Man jailed for raping and sexually assaulting teens

A custody mugshot of Nathan Catherall. He has short dark hair and brown eyes. He is pictured looking slightly off to the side, with a blank expression
Nathan Catherall was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday [Avon and Somerset Police]

A 26-year-old man has been jailed for 11 years after raping and sexually assaulting two teenagers.

Nathan Catherall, from Croydon, met his 18 and 19-year-old victims through a dating app.

The offences took place in 2020 and 2021 in Bristol, police said.

Catherall was also given indefinite notification requirements, meaning he will have to sign in at police stations regularly after his release.

One of the victims - who cannot be named for legal reasons - told Bristol Crown she was "so scared" during the ordeal, as Catherall was sentenced on Thursday.

'I feel numb'

"Sometimes I feel numb thinking about what has happened," she added.

"I managed to push down my feelings for so long so that I didn’t have to deal with the pain.

“I like to think of myself as a strong powerful woman but in that moment I lost those traits and I lost me."

She added: “I hope I can learn to forgive myself for being so hard on myself after you raped me and I hope I can treat my body better healing from this than I did dealing with it.

"I don’t want to cry, and I don’t want to hate myself.

"I want to love my body, and I want to love me.”

Kate Brunner KC, prosecuting, said Catherall had a “worrying attitude of entitlement” and an “absolute lack of insight” into his offending.

She also praised the victims for their “enormous strength and courage”.

Investigating officer Ellen Rye said: “No always means no, and can be demonstrated in various ways.

"It doesn’t have to be verbal and whichever way a person communicates it, it is valid and should be respected by the other party.

“This was not respected by Nathan Catherall, who chose to ignore each victim's right to say no - for his own gratification."

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