Broadchurch actor due to appear in Liam Neeson film jailed for sexually assaulting sleeping women

An actor who played a prisoner in the popular television series Broadchurch has been jailed for eight years for a string of sex attacks on two women.

Nyakeh Kpaka, 26, who used the stage name Nakay Kpaka, had starred alongside David Tennant and Olivia Colman in the hit ITV series as the character Jonah Bishop and was seen as a promising young actor.

He was due to also feature in an upcoming action-thriller film, The Commuter, starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga and Sam Neill.

But the Met Police said Kpaka, from Wood Green, north London, lived a double life as a "dangerous sexual predator" who targeted "vulnerable lone" victims.

He was arrested in May 2015 after a woman at a house party in Blackheath, south-east London, accused him of sexually assaulting her as she slept in a bed. The victim woke up and ran screaming from the bedroom and the police were called.

Kpaka, who was not known to the victim, told officers the sexual activity was consensual and he was bailed while police investigated.

A second woman then came forward to claim she had also been sexually assaulted by Kpaka at another house party in the Finsbury Park area in December 2014.

Again, the victim did not know Kpaka prior to the party and had gone to sleep in a bedroom at the house. She said she was awoken by Kpaka sexually assaulting her.

The actor was charged with three counts of sexual assault by penetration in February 2016. He denied all charges, saying the 2015 incident was consensual and the other alleged sexual assault didn't happen.

But a jury at Woolwich Crown Court found him guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to five years for the two offences in 2015 and three years for the 2014 offence. Sentences are to be served consecutively.

Detective Constable Peter Thompson, the investigating officer from the Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "Kpaka is a dangerous sexual predator who has attacked vulnerable lone women whilst they were sleeping in bed at two different house parties. Thankfully he has now been caught and convicted and is serving a prison sentence.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank those present at the parties who came to the assistance of the victims and the victims themselves who showed a great degree of courage to report these offences and give evidence against Kpaka."