Febuary 2006

Girl, 14, is raped

A Sex offender has been jailed for the rape of a 14-year-old girl and downloading more than 500 images of child abuse images.

Marcus Christopher, 44, was convicted nearly two decades ago of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old and indecently exposing himself to young children.

Nottingham Crown Court heard in one incident he was found naked in school toilets in order to attract the attention of girls.

Christopher was convicted before the sex offenders’ register was introduced, which now requires offenders to keep police informed of their address.

He was arrested last August after he dragged a girl into a bedroom and attacked her.

The terrified youngster tried to resist Christopher but he held her hands above her head.

Afterwards, she called ChildLine and told a friend of her ordeal.

“Her friend described her as physically shaking,” Adrian Reynolds, prosecuting, told the court.

Police searched Christopher’s home and found images on his computer at various levels of seriousness.

Mr Reynolds said Christopher had been downloading and examining material in days leading up to the rape.

Judge David Price sentenced him to three years and 26 days, after he had discounted 156 days Christopher had a served on remand. His address is HMP Nottingham.

He will be on licence for ten years after his release and must sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

The judge said: “You spoke to a probation officer and a report deals with your attitude to this sort of offending. I get the picture you don’t see a lot wrong with committing offences of this sort with children.” Defending, Richard Thatcher said Christopher should be given credit for his pleas of guilty to rape and downloading child porn.

“He is under medical supervision at Nottingham prison and is being weaned off anti-depressants.

“At the time this offending was erupting, he was taking an extraordinary amount of anti-depressants. It affected his judgment.”