Teen boy tried to rape ‘total stranger’ in park after robbery and car theft spree

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was just 16 when he approached two women in Queens Park near the centre of Bolton in June last year.

Bolton Crown Court heard how the two women had been out jogging when the boy attacked them.

Judge Abigail Hudson said: “This was frankly an astonishing attack in broad daylight with a number of people there as witnesses.”

She added: “You accept that it was your intention to rape a total stranger.”

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss) Dressed in a green tracksuit top the boy, now 17, looked on silently via video link from a young offenders institute as Judge Hudson laid out the string of crimes that culminated in the attempted rape.

The case had been opened at a previous hearing by Hayley Parkes.

She told the court how on May 12 that year the boy had been part of a group that robbed another young man of £5 in Bolton town centre.

Judge Hudson said that the boy had been the leader of the group and that in a “gratuitous piece of bullying” he had punched the victim after he had fallen to the floor.

He had also threatened the victim with a knife.

Not long after, on June 18 the boy was heard trying to smash his way into a car using a can of nitrous oxide.

The boy also tried the door handle of a second vehicle before smashing its windows and around 20 minutes later a man was awoken by the sound of glass as his car was smashed as well.

The then 16-year-old then banged on the man’s front door and threatened to kill him before approaching another man sat in a car with a “large knife” in his hand.

Judge Hudson said: “The sight of you, covered as you were in blood, must have been terrifying.”

The boy then stole the car and tried to drive off before hitting another two parked cars and fleeing on a bike.

But the teenager’s most serious crimes came when two women went jogging on Queens Park in the early hours of a day in June, only to be subject to a terrifying sexual assault and rape attempt.

During that same morning on Queens Park the boy also tried to rob a man, claiming that he had a gun and asking for his money and keys only to flee when he refused to hand them over.

The boy was arrested later that same day, bringing his six-week string of crimes to an end.

Brought before the courts he pleaded guilty to attempted rape, sexual assault, three counts of robbery and a section 39 assault.

He also confessed to three counts of aggravated vehicle taking, five counts of criminal damage, common assault and possession of a bladed article. 

Mark Fireman, defending, had said at a previous hearing that the boy deserved credit for his guilty plea and that he was of previous good character with no previous convictions.

He also said that the boy could rely on a supportive family background.

But Judge Hudson said that the defendant had shown himself to be a clear danger to the public.

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She said: “Without help you are going to be a blight on society.”

Judge Hudson sentenced the boy to seven years and six months detention with an extended licence period of five years.

She also told him he would be subject to the sex offenders register for life and made him subject to a ten-year restraining order against three of his victims.

Judge Hudson also banned the boy from driving for a year, with an extension of 45 months to take account of the time he will spend in custody. 

Source – INDIA TV