Deportation of rapist upheld

A British man convicted of torturing and raping a young woman in a case which drew parallels with the film The Silence of the Lambs has lost his fight against deportation from Australia.

Leslie Neil Cunliffe was released from jail on parole in April after serving some 12 years for his crimes but Australian authorities subsequently cancelled his visa.

Cunliffe posed as a policeman in 1999 and abducted a 21-year-old woman at gunpoint, locking her in a backyard shed with padded walls.

The woman was tied to a chair and raped and tortured. Cunliffe strapped a fake bomb to her, stripped her from the waist and took photos to demand a A$1 million (€810m) ransom.

The victim escaped after Cunliffe went out to buy food and a woman heard her screams for help.