Youth sentenced for raping 10-year-old Shrewsbury girl
A 15-year-old was today given a four year custodial sentence after admitting one charge of rape and another of attempted rape on a 10-year-old Shrewsbury girl.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how the youth followed and approached the little girl as she walked along St Michael’s Street, near the town centre, on the afternoon of Friday, 1 April.
He persuaded her to help search for something he claimed to have lost, luring her to an isolated location on disused land near the Arc car wash centre where the offences took place.
A major police investigation was launched, including repeated public appeals for information, especially for sightings of a young man and the victim in the New Park Road/St Michael’s Street area.
DCI Jamieson said: “This was an extremely disturbing case, involving a little girl of just 10 years. It quickly became apparent that her assailant was also fairly young, probably someone of secondary school age.
“I am pleased to say we were able to arrest the perpetrator relatively quickly once the incident had been reported. He was a dangerous individual and fortunately, was identified and arrested before posing any further risk to the public. It also allowed for the effective recovery of vital evidence”.
He praised members of the public who responded to appeals for sightings of the suspect. “Our prime suspect was caught on CCTV cameras carrying a fishing rod and fishing tackle box which made him conspicuous and we received a number of calls from people who had seen him at the relevant time.
“We also established he had been in the area for some time prior to the assault which was carried out in daylight off one of the busiest approaches in and out of Shrewsbury.
“There was an excellent response to our appeals for information, from both pedestrians and passing motorists. Their evidence played a big part in enabling an early arrest and I am very grateful to everyone who came forward.”
DCI Jamieson said it was a sensitive case which was handled professionally by the investigation team. “There was a significant number of detectives involved in this investigation with many lines of enquiry having to be completed in quick-time.
“These included seizure of a large amount of CCTV footage, extensive house to house checks and speaking with significant witnesses, all of which assisted in piecing together the movements and identification of the offender after the assault”.
He added: “We also worked closely with our partner agencies in dealing with this incident especially in ensuring the victim received careful consideration during the interview process.
“This was an extremely disturbing incident but I’m pleased to say such cases remain relatively rare in Shropshire and other parts of the West Mercia Police force area.”
