Locations
Cramlington, Northumberland, NE23
Description
A rapist who attacked a schoolgirl in the woods as she pleaded for him to stop has been jailed.
Connor Pearson-Hartley forced himself on the teenager, leaving her traumatised and with scratches on her arm. He admitted a sexual assault and denied rape but jurors found him guilty.
Now the 20-year-old, of Cramlington, Northumberland, has been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court. As he was locked up the victim said in a statement how she was left feeling "dirty" by the prolonged ordeal.
She said: "The thing I remember so vividly was when I eventually got home, going in the bath and feeling dirty, even once I had come out. I felt like my body didn't belong to me."
She added that the significance of losing her virginity in such horrific circumstances has since hit her, adding: "I can't understand why it happened because I pleaded and pleaded for it to stop.
"At school, when we learned about consent, we learned about the positive sides of it and they stop immediatey. He didn't stop. It took a really long time for me to realise it was not my fault. I did everything I could to stop him."
She added: "I would cry myself to sleep because I knew as soon as I fell asleep I would relive it again and again. I would wake up screaming in fear of it happening again and I developed panic attacks."
She went on to say: "At (my age) all you are worried about is playing with your friends and watching silly rom coms. That evening everything changed.
"I still can't wipe the feeling of being dirty. When I found out he was being sentenced I could finally breathe."
Describing the attack, Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said: "He tried to kiss her. She turned away but he grabbed her left arm, leaving four scratches on her forearm. He tried to kiss her again and put his hand under her top and down her pants.
"He kept unzipping her jeans and she pulled them back up. He took hold of her hand and moved it to his boxer shorts. He tried to take her further into the woods and pulled his pants down." He then sexually assaulted her and raped her despite her saying "no".
The victim eventually managed to run away and Pearson-Hartley was later arrested. Pearson-Hartley, who was 17 at the time, of Kendal Drive, Cramlington, pleaded guilty to a sexual assault and was found guilty of rape.
He was jailed for four-and-a-half years and must sign the sex offenders register for life and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order for five years.
Judge Penny Moreland told him: "What happened was a prolonged detention and a sustained attack. What you did to her was painful and it had a serious impact on her.
"You robbed her of that stage of her childhood and you robbed her of the opportunity to have a first sexual experience to be something of her choosing and not something forced upon her."
Jessica Slaughter, defending, said the case has effected his mental health and he has attempted suicide. She added that it has also had a life-changing effect on his family and has impacted his younger siblings.