A businessman from Bolton who presented himself as a successful millionaire has been jailed for 14 years for a campaign of rape and abuse against a woman.
Dean Holmes, 43, of The Highgrove in Heaton, Bolton, was sentenced on Friday at Bolton Crown Court. He had admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour, but denied four counts of rape encompassing at least six acts of rape. After a trial last month, a jury found him guilty of all the rape charges.
Police video released by Greater Manchester Police shows Holmes appearing open-mouthed when he learned he was being arrested for rape, before sobbing and saying: "I've not done nothing, honestly!"
Campaign of abuse
The court heard Holmes called his victim 'a slag, a slut, a dirty f***ing rat, a tramp' and 'bombarded' her with thousands of abusive messages and voice notes. He forced her to upload intimate pictures of herself online to make money for him, the trial was told.
In one voicenote, he told her: "This is what's f***ing annoying about you, you're so stupid and thick, you see how much you f***ing annoy me with your idiot f***ing retardedness over a snap chat filter."
The woman described how he would punch and push her and forced her to perform sex acts even though she had refused him. She eventually reported him to police last year.
Victim impact
In a victim personal statement read out in court, the woman said: "These past ten months have been an absolute torment. Dealing with the trauma of what (he) did to me... was already an unbearable burden. However, having the intimate, painful details of my abuse exposed and read out in open court forced me to relive the terror of every single moment all over again."
She added: "Dean Holmes systematically ruined my life. He took a strong, independent woman with a thriving career, a fulfilling life, and an outgoing personality, and reduced me to a mere shell of my former self. Because of what (he) did to me."
She said the public could now see her abuser for what he is, 'a calculated abuser and a malicious manipulator'. She said she was determined 'not to feel ashamed', adding: "The shame is not mine to carry, it belongs to him because of what he chose to do to me. He made those choices, I did not."
Previous conviction
Prosecutor Mark Kellett told the court Holmes was convicted of assaulting another woman in 2023, when he sent abusive texts and punched her repeatedly in the face. He received a six-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, which he had not completed by the time he was abusing his latest victim.
Graham Rishton, defending, said his client had run 'successful businesses' and had a 'considerable work ethic', although his enterprises failed after Covid. His friends described him as 'thoughtful and generous', he said. His poorly mother died a day before the hearing.
Holmes felt 'shame' over the behaviour he had admitted, in which he accepted he had acted 'very poorly indeed', said Mr Rishton.
Sentencing
Sentencing, Judge Jon Close noted there had been an 'absence of remorse' and that the messages to his 'particularly vulnerable' victim had been 'cruel, intimidating and bullying'.
Holmes, wearing a white shirt as he appeared via videolink from HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, showed no reaction as he was jailed for 14 years plus an extra three months for starting his campaign of abuse while his suspended sentence was still current. He will be eligible for parole two-thirds of the way through his sentence.
He was also made subject to a 20-year restraining order and placed on the sex offenders' register for life.
After the hearing, Detective Constable Paul Milligan said: "I'd firstly like to thank the victim for her incredible courage in bringing this case to the courts. Her strength in coming forward and supporting this whole investigation has helped us keep Holmes behind bars for the damage, hurt, and trauma he caused."
He added: "If you see the signs of controlling and coercive behaviour, or physical abuse, coming forward is always the right thing to do, and we urge you to do so in your own time. Nobody deserves to go through this, or any type of abuse, and your care is always our priority."
