Heaton Chapel serial rapist ‘destroyed my life’, says victim

A woman who was threatened and controlled by a “depraved” rapist while working as a sex worker said she was left “destroyed”.

Nicholas Moxham, 52, was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in prison after being convicted of a series of sexual offences against women and children.

He had persuaded sex workers to move in with him and then abused, raped and filmed them.

Colette, who waived her right to anonymity when speaking to the BBC, said Moxham threatened to break her neck and forced her to “question everyone and everything”.

The judge at Manchester Crown Court told Moxham, of Heaton Chapel in Stockport, that his offences were “aimed at satisfying his own deviant and selfish sexual desires”.

During the trial, it was reported that in the first weeks of the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, he lured six women to his home by convincing them that he could conduct their sex business online.

He raped some of them in their sleep, controlled their finances and threatened to force them to perform “disgusting and degrading” sexual acts for him and others.

Collette told BBC North West Tonight that Moxham approached her on the street in Manchester and offered to help.

“It was great at first, he was harmless, he just took me to get the drugs I smoked and let me take clients to his house,” she said.

Moxham arranged appointments for the women and invited clients to his home and another house in Longsight, Manchester.

He then filmed the encounters using peepholes and cameras hidden in enclosures.

The jury heard how Moxham encouraged or coerced his victims into offering other sexual services online and how he “guided” some of his victims in pornographic videos.

Collette said his demands had become increasingly degrading, but he would threaten them if they refused to comply.

“You really couldn’t say no because it was on the street or in Nick’s way,” she said.

“It made him money and the things he asked for went too far.

“He threatened to break my neck. Tell my family. I was also out on bail at the time and he threatened to have me arrested.”

She added: “It destroyed me.

“He just left me feeling numb. I question everyone and everything.”

During the trial, it was reported that Collette and the other women fell into a spiral of debt after Moxham began charging them for stays at his house and told them to work off their debts by attending more appointments.

In May 2020, Collette left his house after learning that Moxham had raped her in her sleep. As she later found out, this had happened before and he had filmed the attack.

“This man thinks he is untouchable, he thinks he is above the law,” Collette said.

Another victim read his statement at the hearing and told Moxham: “You made me feel dirty, exposed and hurt.”

“Now I don’t believe anything and I don’t trust anyone anymore… Because of you, I will be alone for the rest of my life.”

Moxham was arrested in August 2021 during a raid on his home.

Det. Sgt. Lee Attenborough said his hard drive contained “huge catalogues” of secretly recorded material, some of which showed him raping unconscious women.

He said Moxham treated his victims “like property, as if he owned something.”

At sentencing, it was noted that Moxham had previously admitted sex crimes against children who took part in laser and go-karting events at a Manchester school organised by a company he ran.

In 2016, he filmed himself abusing three children with a camera hidden in leaves, and between 2018 and 2019 he filmed children on the toilet, the court heard.

Judge Potter said none of the children filmed or abused by Moxham had been traced by police.

The court heard that Moxham’s crimes began decades earlier when he was sentenced to four years in prison in 1992 after injuring a woman.

The attack was motivated by “anger issues toward women because of their disinterest” in him, the judge said.

Moxham also received a warning for causing a public nuisance in 1997.

The judge said his offences were “aimed at exploiting the vulnerability of others you preyed on – be they drug-addicted sex workers or children entrusted to your care”.

Moxham was found guilty of 32 crimes, including rape, controlling prostitution for profit, slavery and sexual abuse.

He had previously admitted other crimes, including the sexual abuse of a child under 13, taking and recording indecent photographs of children and operating a brothel for the purposes of prostitution.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 19 years.