Ryan Theaker, a serving Merseyside Police constable at the time of the attack, was sentenced after a jury heard a secret audio recording the victim made of the 80-minute ordeal.
Ryan Theaker, 30, has been jailed for 11 years at Liverpool Crown Court for raping a woman he knew in a hotel room in 2023. He was a serving constable with Merseyside Police at the time. The victim made a covert audio recording on her mobile phone, which was played to jurors during what was described as harrowing evidence. Judge Brian Cummings KC said Theaker had caused her “severe psychological harm”.
The sentence
Theaker, of Netherton, Merseyside, was convicted in August of one count of rape, one count of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration. The judge imposed an extended licence period of five years and ruled that he must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence in custody before the Parole Board can consider his release.
Judge Cummings told Theaker that he was in “large measure” responsible for the woman’s suicide attempt in 2024. The court heard that Theaker has since accepted he committed the offences, although his recollection was “limited” because he was intoxicated by alcohol.
The victim’s words
The victim told the court that “people like him have no place in society” and that “his actions will always impact my life”.
“I still struggle to understand how he was able to go into work, arrest someone for a crime that was less or the same as what he had done to me and still be proud to wear that uniform,” she said. “He didn’t deserve to be in the police. He didn’t deserve his nice house. He didn’t deserve his nice new car.”
She went on: “I always thought when I was younger that monsters were big horrible nasty creatures who weren’t even real. I remember reading a post that said, ‘even Scooby-Doo taught us the real monsters were always the people’. That is exactly what he is. A monster. The monster never wins.”
She added: “It is true his actions will always impact my life. I’ll always be physically and emotionally damaged. He wasn’t successful in fully breaking me. Of course, I have to rebuild pieces that he did manage to break but those pieces are so much stronger than before. I am not afraid.”
The recording
The secret recording played a central role in the trial. Prosecutors reportedly relied on an audio file of around 85 minutes, during which the victim repeatedly pleaded with Theaker to stop. It was presented as evidence that she did not consent.
Defence mitigation
Jenny Tallentyre, defending, said Theaker had “begun to reflect on the impact of his behaviour on her”. She said he had spoken of his “own shame and embarrassment” and had acknowledged that his behaviour on the night was “unacceptable”.
The court heard that Theaker had been regarded as an “excellent police officer”. He received a commendation in 2020 and was nominated for a bravery award last year.
Misconduct and the Barred List
Theaker resigned from Merseyside Police in August 2025, ahead of a misconduct hearing into videos he shared in a WhatsApp group in 2021. Merseyside Police said the videos were “ableist in nature”. They were unrelated to the rape investigation and came to light when his phone was seized for examination.
The hearing went ahead after his resignation and found the matter proven at the level of gross misconduct. It determined that he would have been dismissed had he still been serving. He has been placed on the College of Policing’s Barred List, which prevents him from returning to policing roles covered by it.
Force response
Assistant Chief Constable Karen Jaundrill said after the sentencing: “The behaviour for which Theaker has been convicted and sentenced has no place in society, and certainly not within policing.”
“I want to be clear that his contemptible behaviour is in no way representative of the attitude or behaviour of officers and staff at Merseyside Police,” she said. “Theaker’s former colleagues, and the force, have all been left shocked and disgusted by his actions and the long-term impact they have had on his victim.”
She added: “Clearly we now know this man was not fit to be a police officer, and it is right that he is no longer part of the force.”
