Mark Chapman rapist
Mark Chapman, 36, was found guilty by a 10-2 majority by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court Merseyside Police

A 36-year-old father-of-two, who raped a sleeping schoolgirl while high on cocaine and drunk on alcohol, has been jailed for five years.

Mark Chapman, from Wallasey, was arrested for the rape of a 15-year-old girl. Despite denying the girl's claims, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found him guilty Thursday (2 November) of rape, by a 10-2 majority following five and a half hours deliberations.

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According to the Liverpool Echo, the case was a re-trial after a previous jury was unable to agree on a verdict. Liverpool Crown Court heard how Chapman raped the girl in the early hours of an August morning in 2016, after he had been out drinking.

Chapman admitted he had drunk eight bottles of beer and taken three or four lines of cocaine, the Liverpool Echo reported. However, he denied the incident ever occurred.

Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said to Chapman while jailing him: "There is no suggestion of any remorse of your part.

"I have no doubt it was committed against a background of the drink and drugs that you had consumed," she added.

Nicholls said that "thankfully" the incident was short-lived, though impact statements from the victim's parents revealed she was distressed by the incident and court proceedings.

"This offence has undermined her confidence and ability to focus upon her school work and she had had the need for counselling," the judge said. "When she should have been enjoying herself with other 15/16-year-olds she was no doubt having to cope with something which should have outside the experience of 15/16-year-olds."

His defence lawyer, Charlotte Kenny, asked the judge: "I ask you for what leniency you can bestow". Kenny noted that Chapman has two small children.

The court learned Chapman had two previous unrelated conviction, one of which resulted in a drug rehabilitation order.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Nicholls ordered Chapman to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and imposed a lifetime restraining order for him to stay away from the victim.