Man dressed as Herman Munster faces jail for raping woman at swingers’ club

Jeremy Frazer Newsome Smith, 45, formerly of Wakefield, attacked the woman in a mirrored indoor smoking room at sex club La Chambre in Attercliffe, Sheffield, last October.

He denied rape and said the pair had consensual sex.

But a jury at Sheffield Crown Court found him guilty of rape today (Thursday) after nearly seven hours of deliberations.

Judge Peter Kelson QC warned Smith, now of Regent Street, London, he was facing a jail term and released him on bail so he could ‘get his affairs in order’.

Opening the case for the prosecution at Sheffield Crown Court, Charlotte Baines, said: “The allegation occurred in an establishment called La Chambre. 
“That is a private members club that’s commonly called a swingers’ club. 
“It is an establishment that opens its doors to members who go with a view to watching or participating in sexual activity if they chose to do so.”

“It’s clear that La Chambre makes no secret of the type of establishment that it is. 
“It is a swingers’ club.

“There are rooms upstairs in the club referred to as the ‘playrooms’. 
“Those rooms are for those individuals who want to engage in sexual activity and they engage with other consenting adults in various types of sexual activity - that’s activity that takes place between consenting adults.”

The court heard the woman went to the fancy dress party at the club with two female friends on October 27 and was dressed up as a vampire in a corset, stockings and heels.

Smith was also with friends - one dressed as Harry Potter and the other in drag as Lily Munster - and the trio had been asked to perform as the cabaret act for the night and were paid in drink.

Miss Baines said the woman volunteered to take part in some games on stage as part of the cabaret act.

But during one game she was locked in a guillotine on stage and humiliated.

After the show Smith, who admitted taking Viagra before going to the club, and his friends drank and socialised with the victim and her friends.

After going upstairs to the ‘playrooms’ to watch and laugh at an orgy, Smith took the victim into the mirrored smoking room and raped her.

The victim told the jury she froze during the attack.

She said: “I just felt as though I was paralysed.

“I was just so scared, I knew what was going to happen. I was just so scared I didn’t event know what to do.”

Smith will be sentenced in September after the preparation of a probation report.