Stevenage man jailed after inflicting ‘horrific’ sexual abuse

A Stevenage man has been jailed for more than 10 years after pleading guilty to sexual assault, perverting the course of justice and threats to kill.

Kologo Richards, previously of The Oundle in Stevenage, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison at St Albans Crown Court last Monday, after he sexually assaulted the victim at her home in 2018.

At the time of the offence, he was already on bail in connection with other assaults against the woman, and he asked her to drop those previous charges. The police were called and Richards was subsequently arrested.

The 34-year-old appeared for trial for the assaults at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court in June 2018.

He was convicted of two assaults and sentenced to eight-weeks imprisonment, along with a restraining order.

When receiving the sentence on June 11, he made verbal threats to kill the victim who was present at court.

At St Albans Crown Court on November 19, 2018, Richards pleaded guilty to sexual assault and perverting the course of justice.

He then pleaded guilty to threats to kill on January 9, 2019, also at St Albans Crown Court.

He was handed a 54-month sentence for the sexual assault, 12 months concurrent and 10 months consecutive for two counts of perverting the course of justice and 18 months consecutively for threats of kill.

In total, he was handed a prison sentence of 10 years and 10 months.

He will have to serve a further four years before he is allowed to apply for parole and will remain on licence for 10 years.

Detective Sergeant Marc Willmore said: “As well as being sent to prison for a significant number of years, Kologo has also been served a 10-year restraining order which prevents him from contacting the victim.

“The victim has displayed incredible bravery throughout the investigation and I would like to commend her for the courage she has shown.

“I hope this sentence helps her to rebuild her life following the horrific abuse that Richards inflicted on her.”