A former police radio dispatcher, Harry Blumire, has been jailed for seven years for rape and strangling a woman. Blumire, 24, worked in the Bedfordshire Police control room and was arrested while off duty in Northamptonshire in June 2024. He was suspended immediately and dismissed in September 2024. At Leicester Crown Court on 7 October, he was convicted of rape, sexual assault, actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation. He was sentenced to seven years in total for the rape, with the other sentences of 24 months, nine months and 18 months running concurrently. The offences took place between August 2023 and May 2024 against a woman in her 20s. Bedfordshire Police assistant chief constable John Murphy said Blumire had tried to use his role as police staff to dissuade the victim from coming forward. Det Con Gina Rosignoli, of Northamptonshire Police, praised the woman’s “remarkable strength and determination” during an investigation that took more than two years to reach trial. Blumire has now been sentenced and will serve a seven-year prison term.