Man jailed for life for offences including attempted murder and rape in Portsmouth – Barry McElduff prosecuted for the Crown
Benjamin Coates, 42, from Waterlooville was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on 17th October 2025 to life imprisonment, with a minimum of term of 19 years.
Coates was found guilty by the jury in July this year of attempted murder, five counts of rape, intentional strangulation, controlling coercive behaviour, threatening to share intimate images and threats to kill. All offences were against a woman in Portsmouth between April and December 2024. Police were called on 11 December last year after a member of the public heard the victim screaming. She had been assaulted over a three-day period by Coates, who broke her ribs, threw her through a window, broke her legs and repeatedly kicked her in the face.
An investigation by the Eastern Criminal Investigation Department discovered that over the course of eight months, Coates had subjected the woman to repeated physical, sexual and emotional abuse and made threats to the woman’s family.
