Huntsman who raped a drunk woman after a hunt ball jailed for four years Norrish during the trial Married Norrish had his head bowed as the judge told him:"It was in the early hours of 2nd July last year when you invited the victim to take a lift home with you. She was drunk. I have no doubt that you appreciated that. Instead of simply giving her a lift home as you should have done, you took advantage of her as she sat in the front passenger seat of your car. She did not consent to your advances, early on she told she did not want to. You did not reasonably believe that she was consenting and proceeded to have sexual intercourse. This was a grave abuse of a vulnerable woman. The judge said the victim was 'too drunk to exercise a free choice to events'. Norrish remained impassive as sentence was passed - four years in jail - of which he will serve half behind bars before he is released on licence. Yesterday the victim was said to be 'beside herself with relief' at the jury verdict. Exeter crown court heard that Norrish raped her in the front seat of his 4x4 car at 2.30am after the annual Tiverton Staghounds hunt ball last July. Norrish claimed the pretty 33 year old started to kiss him as they walked to his car. He told the jury that they kept kissing in the car and she was not wearing her shoes and had already removed her knickers and lifted up her gown ball. But the victim, who was a stranger to Norrish, denied his claims and said she had told him that she did not want to have sex with him and told him so. She told the court that she may have passed out in his car after downing 20 alcoholic drinks that night - nine glasses of wine and eleven vodkas - at the black tie hunt ball at Chawleigh, Devon. She said that after the rape she ran from his car and spotting a car's lights in the field used for parking - it was a car carrying her husband who had gone to fetch it to give her a lift home. She said she was 'hysterical' and her husband wanted to track down Norrish who drove off with her shoes, knickers and handbag in the footwell. After the case the victim said:"I would like to say that this has been the most difficult ten months of my life. Not only have I been violated in the most horrendous way, I have suffered emotional trauma as a result of this. A community has been divided and I would like to think that we can now put this behind us and rebuild our lives. I am relieved that this has been brought to a positive conclusion and I can now start to move on and deal with the emotional trauma that this has caused myself and my family. John Norrish was seen as an upstanding member of the community and he abused that trust. This result means that no one else will be subjected to this type of abuse from him. She thanked her husband, friends and the police for their 'support and professionalism'. Det Con Paul Feeney said:"She is beside herself with relief at the jury's decision and now wants to get her head around it." Norrish, who has no previous convictions, has a caution for an assault during a hunt altercation. His lawyer Robert Linford told the judge that his client had led an outdoor lifestyle all his life and a custodial sentence will be hard for him to bear. Norrish, who is now retired from is job as huntsman with the Tiverton Staghounds, is still married. He will be placed on the Sex Offenders' register for life.