Rape advisor's abuser jailed after 10-year fight for justice

The government's former rape adviser has said she is "incredibly relieved" her abuser has been imprisoned after a decade of campaigning for justice.

Christopher Killick, 45, was sentenced to three years imprisonment at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday after being convicted of harassing Emily Hunt.

He had previously pleaded guilty to voyeurism after filming Ms Hunt naked in a hotel room in 2015 while she was unconscious.

Ms Hunt said "it only took 3,706 days of me fighting" for Killick to "finally get a jail sentence".

"It's remarkable, I'm really pleased that somebody listened," she continued.

"For the time that he is in prison, I will know that I am safe. And for that, I am incredibly grateful."

Killick was initially arrested on suspicion of rape in London in 2015 after Ms Hunt woke up naked in a hotel room with no recollection of how she had got there.

She said she'd been drugged and raped but police dropped the case due to a lack of evidence. Killick has always denied rape.

Emily Hunt waived her right to anonymity in order to pursue a case against Killick.

Her persistence led to a change in the law, allowing police to charge him with voyeurism after they discovered he had taken a 62-second video of her in the hotel room. Hunt was awarded an OBE for her campaign work.

Killick pleaded guilty in 2020 and was given a 30-month community order and fined £2,000, and was also given a restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Hunt directly or indirectly.

Despite the sentence, Killick – who stood as an Independent parliamentary candidate in a by-election in Hartlepool in 2021 – continued to offend.

Between July 2021 and February 2023, he breached the restraining order by repeatedly tweeting about Ms Hunt. In March 2023, he received a 14-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. The restraining order was also strengthened.

In July 2024, he breached the order again, by tweeting about Ms Hunt.

In April 2025, while waiting to be sentenced for that offence, he breached the order again.

He was finally imprisoned this week, swearing at the judge shortly before he was sentenced.

Judge Michael Maher, speaking to Killick, said that "each breach, looked at individually and collectively, represents an unwavering persistence on your part".

"The blunt point is this, Mr Killick, you just won't give up. But Ms Hunt won't give in. My God, she has demonstrated great courage in relation to you. Your obsession speaks for itself."

Emily Hunt, who now lives in the US, told the BBC that Killick's behaviour was the consequence of a "failure of the criminal justice system, where there are no consequences to breaching court orders".

"He was arrested then released, more than than once."

Ms Hunt served for two years as an independent adviser to a rape review conducted by the Ministry of Justice but resigned in 2023 citing a lack of will to improve the experience of rape victims by the last Conservative government.