'There was some tiny part of my brain that thought it was OK'

A 25 year-old chef from Somerset has been charged guilty of nine counts of rape, one of attempted rape, three of assault, and one of sexual assault after five women testified against him at the Exeter Crown Court yesterday.

The acts were perpetrated against five women aged between 17 and 20 over the course of 18 months, at house parties and sleepovers as well as in their own homes.

According to the BBC, the court heard that Tom Wade-Allison, a hotel chef, spiked drinks he prepared for them, leaving them unable to fight him off. 

Though the first four victims told people in their entourage what had happened to them, the incidents didn't come to light until the chef's fifth victim came forward after she was raped by him in a hotel, prompting them to tell the police too.

One victim said he had told her he was going to mix her "a special drink" moments before she began feeling very unwell.

The chef, originally from Martock in Somerset, messaged his fifth victim the next day, and said: "All I can do is apologise over and over again. Obviously, there was some tiny part of my brain that thought it was OK."

In one message, The Daily Mail reports, he called himself a "collosal c***" and apologised again, but in another message said that "what has happened has happened, I am not exactly pleased about the whole thing."

He repeatedly claimed that all of the encounters had been consensual; he said that he believed that the four other victims had come forward to bolster the case against him, that they were telling lies, and that it was a coincidence that three of the women ended up in a similar state after they had been drinking with him. 

Judge Timothy Rose adjourned sentencing until 15 April, and told the perpetrator to expect "a very substantial prison sentence," adding that "there is no way I can mince my words about that."