Convicted rapist and ex-racehorse owner ‘warned off’ after seeking work in yard
Michael Thomas was jailed for 16 years in 2013 and put on the sex offenders’ register after hiding in a garden shed to carry out the rape of an ex-girlfriend
An ex-racehorse owner and convicted rapist has been warned off by the British Horseracing Authority after he tried to seek work at a racing stables. Michael Thomas, from Hereford, was jailed for 16 years in 2013 after he was found guilty of seven charges of rape involving three women.
He was also convicted of attempted rape, sexual assault, making threats to kill, indecent assault, actual bodily harm and false imprisonment, with some offences dating back 21 years. The judge at Thomas’s sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court ordered he should be put on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.
Thomas, previously from Abergavenny, Gwent, was a 44-year-old haulage contractor who had a small string of racehorses near Chepstow and was a regular racegoer.
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When he first went on trial for twice raping his former girlfriend the case was halted when three other women came forward to say they had been attacked as well.
At the second trial the court heard how Thomas hid in the garden shed of his former partner where he spent ten days before attacking her brandishing a hammer.
She was then held captive until she persuaded him to take her to a petrol station to get cigarettes. Thomas was arrested after she managed to alert a store assistant who called police.
Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones told Thomas: “You are a danger to the public – I am passing this sentence for the protection of the public. There is no doubt whatsoever that you pose a serious risk of causing significant harm in the future.”
Following his release from prison Thomas has been issued with an indefinite exclusion order by the BHA’s disciplinary officer for “conduct posing a risk of harm to racing’s participants”.
According to the BHA, Thomas had sought work at a racing yard and was then found on the yard in question despite it being in breach of the terms of his prison licence.
