Family man George Pyrgotis from Bingley jailed for raping teenager

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday unanimously convicted Bingley man George Pyrgotis of raping the 18-year-old and sexually assaulting her following a six-and-a-half-day trial.

Pyrgotis, 46, a father-of-two, of Britannia Street, had denied the allegations and claimed that she had sexually abused and raped him.

Jailing him, Judge David Aubrey, QC said that in the hours before the attack he had behaved inappropriately with the victim, whom he had not known long but knew was vulnerable.

“What you did in my judgement was you were in the process of inveigling yourself into her life,” he said.

The judge said that he had “no doubt whatsoever” that when she fell asleep after drinking too much, or was just waking, he took advantage of her and sexually abused her and then raped her.

He told Pyrgotis, who sat in the dock shaking his head: “This will have a devastating effect on you and your children. However you should have thought of your family and children before committing these offences.

“You that night found no sympathy whatsoever for this young vulnerable woman. You afforded her no respect whatsoever.”

He ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

The jury heard that the incident happened in the early hours of January 17 last year. Immediately after the incident the victim sent a text to her sister, saying, ‘He has done stuff to me’.

She did not receive the text asking her to come for her sister but they spoke by telephone later that morning and the victim told the police about her ordeal.

Pyrgotis denied her claims.

He alleged that he had been sleeping, wearing a mask he uses for his sleep apnoea, when she kept coming into his room and sexually touching him. He said he repeatedly told her to stop but he later woke and found her having sex with him.

His barrister Jeremy Lindsay said this would be Pyrgotis’s first custodial sentence and his fiancee and two children would be badly affected.