A JUDGE launched a scathing attack on cricketer Alex Hepburn, yesterday, calling him "arrogant," "immature" and accusing him of treating his victim "like a piece of meat."

Doling out a stark lesson Judge Jim Tindall articulated what, to many, must seem obvious: "Sex is something people do together, with that particular person at that particular time.

"Sex is never something a man does to a woman, arrogantly assuming consent - in a relationship, let alone as you did.

"As she said, in evidence, 'that is rape' - that is what you did.

"In that moment you scarred both your lives forever."

It seems surprising when faced with the straight-talking judge's description of this rape that it has taken two trials and two years for Hepburn to be brought to justice.

And this is even sadder when you consider the words of his victim, in which she describes how the attack has changed her from a 'happy-go-lucky' character into a guilt-ridden, anxious shadow of her former self.