A city broker who raped a woman as she slept has failed in an Appeal Court bid to clear his name.

Jeremy Dassrath, a former captain of Dartford Cricket Club, raped his victim while she was “unconscious due to the drink she had consumed”, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker told the London court.

He also subjected her to repeated degrading sexual attacks, the court heard, as well as a “violent” physical assault.

In his defence Dassrath, of Ribblesdale Road, Dartford, insisted he had sex with the woman “with her enthusiastic consent”.

However, the 31-year-old was jailed for seven-and-a-half years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in June last year after he was convicted of two rapes, three sexual assaults and one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Dassrath had challenged the “safety” of his convictions.

The court and public gallery were packed with Dassrath’s supporters, who wore yellow badges in their buttonholes, but left quietly when his challenge to the guilty verdicts was thrown out.

His legal team claimed Dassrath’s convictions should be overturned because the trial judge “descended into the arena” while the victim was being cross-examined by his barrister.

But Mr Justice Baker, sitting with Lord Justice Davis and Judge Simon Tonking, said the judge had only been trying to curtail already lengthy questioning of the witness.

He also rejected claims that the trial judge’s handling of parts of the trial was defective and concluded: “We do not consider there is any arguable criticism to be made of the summing-up.”

Refusing permission to appeal, Mr Justice Baker said: “Nothing occurred during the trial which leads us to consider that these convictions are arguably unsafe.”