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A monster who laughed after paying another man to have sex with a woman in a hotel room before raping her has been sentenced to 10 years in jail - but remains at large. A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of David Morrison, who failed to attend court on Friday, October 24, to hear the verdict. When found and arrested, the 44-year-old will be put behind bars for 10 years after a jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault by penetration in August. Morison was in a hotel room with his victim in the early hours of the morning and left to get some wine before returning with a man some time later, Teesside Crown Court heard. Summarising the case during the sentencing hearing, Recorder Paul Reid, who presided over the trial, said: "You (Morrison) started laughing and said 'I have got a present for you'. You said: 'Do what you want to her, I'm going for a (cigarette) and some wine." The woman, who was not aware of Morrison's intentions, had not seen the man before and told him not to touch her. The man then told her Morrison had paid him to have sex with her to fulfil the defendant's own fantasy. Morrison said to her: "You're making a mountain out of a mole hill," and told the man he might as well leave as she's "not going to do it". The court heard how after the man left the woman told Morrison not to touch or come near her but he persisted and raped her. In separate incident, Morrison sexually assaulted the woman, TeessideLive reports. Reading her victim impact statement in court, the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: "What you did is not just a thing that happened in the past but I carry it with me every single day... it has slowly killed part of me every day since. The woman added: "You have turned my home into a prison, my body into something I feared and my mind into a battlefield." She said she was pushed to the "point of despair where I was ready to end my own life.... Every day I wake up and fight for the truth knowing he has not won. I am still here and I am still breathing." Ian Mullarkey, mitigating, said the jury acquitted Morrison of two other offences on the indictment. He said the 44-year-old had no previous convictions and was an "accomplished engineer" with a strong work record, adding the defendant had a difficult childhood and suffered neglect. Morrison, of Wilton Castle Lane, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to attend a previous hearing earlier this month. Recorder Reid said: "I gave you an opportunity to settle your affairs pending your sentencing hearing. Instead of doing that you have absented yourself. You have prolonged the agony experienced by the complainant." An indefinite restraining order was made preventing Morrison from contacting the woman and he will have to sign the sex offenders register upon his arrest.
