Sex beast soldier fails in bid to cut jail term
5:52pm Friday 6th July 2007 in Your Town By Staff Reporter
AN EX-SOLDIER who brutally raped a woman while her boyfriend lay bound and gagged has failed to persuade top judges to cut his minimum jail term.
Allan Baxter, aged 24, was jailed for life at Bolton Crown Court in June last year after admitting six counts - including kidnapping, false imprisonment, having an offensive weapon and two counts of rape.
He was told he would have to serve at least six years - the equivalent of a conventional 12-year sentence - behind bars before he could even seek parole.
Judge John Rogers, who today upheld that minimum term at London's Criminal Appeal Court, said the Crown Court judge was justified in finding that Baxter posed a "real danger to women".
Baxter, of Vale Avenue, Radcliffe, struck in March last year, gaining entry to a Bolton home where his rape victim awoke in terror to see Baxter at the foot of her bed, holding a knife.
Her boyfriend was bound and gagged before being bundled into the garden shed while Baxter twice violated the woman. At one point, he almost choked the woman into unconsciousness before breaking her jaw with a single blow.
Even once Baxter has served the six-year minimum, his life sentence means he will only be freed if he can persuade the Parole Board he poses no further public danger. When released, he will remain on perpetual "life licence", subject to prison recall if he commits a further offence.
