A BINMAN who raped a woman as she slept has seen his ‘unduly lenient’ prison sentence more than doubled by the Court of Appeal.

Mitchell Moir, of Berkeley Crescent, St Georges, was initially jailed for three-and-a-half years following his conviction at Exeter Crown Court last November.

However, the case was recalled two days later by the trial judge who reduced Moir’s jail term to just two years.

The judge explained the reduction by saying the rape had been ‘very brief’ and adding that ‘no real harm’ had been done to the victim.

However, the case was ordered to the appeal court after the country’s top law officer ruled the sentence had been ‘unduly lenient’.

And a panel of three senior judges, led by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, this week agreed – more than doubling Moir’s sentence to five years.

Lord Judge said: “We are unable to accept that no harm was caused.

“The offender raped the victim. She was not aware of the rape and she was, therefore, not frightened or fearful or seeking to fight off the rapist

“And, when it happened, the penetration cannot have lasted for a long time, although it was sufficient to have made her sore.

“But, the fact that she was asleep does not constitute mitigation any more than it would have been mitigation if she had been unconscious through drink.

“It is true that the victim will not remember the precise circumstances of what is always a ghastly experience, but, on the other hand, she was the victim and she knew she had been the victim.

“The appropriate sentence in this case is a sentence of five years’ imprisonment, as it now will be.”

Moir, who was just 19 at the time of the rape in 2009, had been babysitting for the woman while she enjoyed a night out.

When she returned home and went to bed, he took off his clothes and got into bed with her, before accidentally having sex with her ‘for a second’.

Although she did not wake up or remember anything, the unknowing victim realised what must have happened when she woke up sore in the morning.