A serial rapist who preyed on young women and under-age girls during a ‘repulsive and abhorrent’ campaign of terror spanning almost a decade was facing life in jail today.
Oliver Wolstenholme, 38, used scheming and manipulative conduct to lure victims into sex and even tried to blackmail one into having intercourse with him on his own wedding night.
The wannabe policeman – who enjoyed dressing up in police uniform and kept a baton, an airsoft rifle and a Samurai sword at home – targeted many of the young women online before meeting them in person.
In one incident he raped three teenage girls one-by-one after taking them to a park to ply them with alcohol. Another victim took an overdose in a bid to kill herself due to being haunted by her ordeal.
Police charged Wolstenholme after officers raided his home in Wythenshawe, Manchester and found more than 1,500 indecent images on electronic devices which featured children as young as a few weeks or months old.
Oliver Wolstenholme (pictured) enjoyed dressing up as a police officer
In his car, officers also found a kitchen knife, gloves, duct tape, a face mask, bolt croppers and a fruit shoot bottle, containing a vodka-based drink he called a ‘glitterbomb’. Further searches of his property uncovered a haul of nitrous oxide and female knickers.
It emerged one victim had reported Wolstenholme to police in 2014 but proceedings against him were dropped after she was too traumatised to testify against him.
At Bolton Crown Court, Wolstenholme who has split up with his wife admitted rape, assault and voyeurism charges relating to three women.
In November 2021 he was jailed for 22 years with an extra eight years on licence after being convicted of rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons relating to four other victims.
He was further found guilty of possessing indecent images, possessing extreme pornographic images, and meeting a child following sexual grooming. All the charges relate to events between 2012 and 2019. He initially denied any wrongdoing.
Wolstenholme who is currently incarcerated at Wakefield maximum security jail in West Yorks has already been assessed by probation workers as being one of Britain’s most dangerous offenders. He could face life in jail when he is sentenced next week.
The first victim, a college student was attacked in 2012 when she was 16 after she met Wolstenholme via a gaming app.
He raped her when she visited his then home in Partington and later sent her a text message: ‘You want to be careful on your way home from college. Hopefully you don’t get hit by a car.’
Police found more than 1,500 indecent images at his home in Wythenshawe, Manchester
The second victim met Wolstenholme on a dating app in 2014 and they spoke online via Skype for a year before they met in person.
She was said to be besotted with him but in one incident he shot her in the knee with his airsoft rifle and in another he strangled her until she lost consciousness before allowing his dog to bite her stomach.
He eventually raped her after booking them into a hotel before assaulting her with a sex aid. He also took secret video of her whilst she was naked on the bed and then threatened to send it to her boss and post in on Facebook.
The third victim was sexually assaulted after she met Wolstenholme whilst he was engaged to be married and she shared an illicit kiss with him at a drunken house party.
Ben Lawrence prosecuting said: ‘She said she was sorry and that it should not have happened but the next day he used it against her.’
He said: ‘Oh well you want me to tell everyone what happened last night?’ and said he wanted to sleep with her.’
‘He was aware she was vulnerable and concerned that she might lose her friends. He continued blackmailing her until she felt like she had no other option.’
‘She thought he would stop once they did it and initially he thanked her and said it wouldn’t happen again. But he would continue to pursue her and if she said ‘no’ he told her he would make her life ‘hell’.’
Mr Lawrence added: ‘She had bought some lingerie hoping to use it with her own sexual partner on Valentine’s Day but the defendant saw it and pestered her into wearing it for him.
‘She refused at first but he ground her down and she wore the lingerie for him – but without her knowledge he had a hidden camera which filmed her. He then considered he had even better material to blackmail her into having more sex with him.
‘Whenever she said ‘no’ he sent her the video threatened to post it on social media and also threatened to send it to her mother. He sent it to her the day before his wedding and made an unsuccessfully attempt to pressure her to have sex with him on his wedding night. He continued to grind her down with requests for sex.’
Wolstenholme targeted three of his other victims aged between 14 and 15 after meeting them at Tesco in Baguley. He offered one of the girls a cigarette and told her that he was a drug dealer then lied about his age.
He drove all three of the girls to a quiet car park, where he plied them with drugs and booze before raping each of the girls one-by-one and threatening to leave them in ‘the middle of nowhere’ if they did not do what he asked.
One of the victims tried to kick Wolstenholme off her but he was too strong for her and raped her on the back seat of his car. Another was so drunk that she could not speak or move but was in tears as Wolstenholme raped her on the front passenger seat.
After Wolstenholme raped the third girl over the boot of the vehicle, he told the other girls that she was a ‘sket’. He was arrested in December 2019 but after being bailed started to groom another 15-year-old girl on Snapchat whilst posing a 17-year-old and using the name ‘T-Dog’.
In messages, he told the girl that he was ‘her man’ and repeatedly called her ‘babygal’ but during a subsequent meeting in a park she managed to escape by getting a friend to call her, pretending to be her mum.
In victim impact statements one of the women said she now struggled with relationships and trusting any men.
Another said: ‘I tried to kill myself with an overdose. I suffer from PTSD and night terrors and have to take sedative medication otherwise I would wake up screaming and feel suicidal.’
A third victim resorted to alcohol abuse and suffers from ‘routine’ panic attacks.
One of the teenage girls is said to often ‘shut down’ and is reluctant and scared to leave her family house.
Wolstenholme who has 29 offences on his record had been convicted of kidnap and possessing an offensive weapon in 2003 after seizing a woman at knifepoint in the street before trying to make her lie on the ground in a nearby garden. He only ran off when she struggled screamed for help.
Defence counsel Neil Usher said: ‘There is precious little by way of mitigation in his case. Each of these cases are dreadful and the effects on victims is plain from their statements. No issue is taken as to the assessment that he presents a very serious risk of serious sexual offending. He is a dangerous offender and will be be doubt for many years to come.
‘I accept he is dangerous but the court does not need to pass a sentence of last resort. It is possible to view a degree of insight in Mr Wolstenholme which was previously lacking.’
Judge Thomas Gilbart adjourned sentence saying he wanted to ‘properly reflect on a just, appropriate and fair sentence.’ But at the earlier trial he told Wolstenholme: ‘This was an utterly shocking case. You are a predator and your actions can only be met with a substantial custodial term.’
DailyMail
