Corby girl, 12, fell pregnant as result of woodland rape

Jordan Carley, 20, is starting a four-and-a-half year jail term after he admitted raping the girl.

Northampton Crown Court heard how the girl, who has lifelong anonymity as the survivor of a sexual offence, had been subject to awful bullying at school following the incident which happened four years ago.

At that time, in July 2015, Carley, of Gainsborough Road, was 16 and the girl was 12.

He was snared after a DNA test following the termination showed him to be the biological father.

The court was told in a moving victim impact statement of the ‘profound’ effect that the assault had had on the youngster.

“Following the incident she stopped doing all of the things she enjoyed, going out with friends after school and at the weekend,” read barrister Caroline Bray, who stood in for prosecutor David Lee at Friday’s sentencing hearing, “

“She stopped having people over to her house and didn’t have a social life. She distanced herself from friends and family.

“She felt safer in her own company.

“There were difficulties with people spreading rumours that weren’t true.

“She suffered bullying as a result of what she’d alleged, which was in fact correct.”

The victim, who sat at the front of the courtroom with her family around her, also had to have counselling as a result of her rape.

The victim impact statement went on: “The incident led to a pregnancy that was terminated.

“This in itself has led to some significant physical problems.

“Her family has been supportive but very worried about her.”

The rape took four years to come to court because of listing delays and because of an investigation into another victim who came forward to say she had also been raped by Carley - although he has not been convicted of any crime with regard to that victim.

Mitigating for Carley, Daniel Bishop said that he had used the past four years effectively, had found work, and had not reoffended.

He added: “His level of maturity has increased immeasurably in that time.

“He understands the very real pain his actions have caused.”

Addressing Carley during sentencing, the judge, Recorder David Herbert QC, said: “The offence was detected because you made her pregnant and she complained about that to medical staff and the DNA test showed you had made her pregnant.”

Initially, Carley had denied that he knew her age. He said she thought her to be 16 and said she had consented to sex.

But the court heard that the girl had told Carley how old she was when they first met.

The judge added: “You went on to take advantage of her. She may have consented but her account is that she didn’t want sex to happen but just went with the flow.

“I’m quite satisfied that you must have realised that the consent of a 12-year-old girl was reluctantly given.

“But for your actions, this would not have happened.

“She was four years younger than you. The gulf between your respective ages is considerable.

“You told her that it was ‘minging’ to get off with minors. You clearly knew what you were doing was wrong but you led her into the woods to have sex with her.

“She did not have the ability to consent.

“You made her pregnant and the effect on her has been profound - physically, mentally and psychologically because of the termination.”

The sentencing guidelines for this type of offence are between eight and ten years but the judge said that the defendant’s young age, positive character references and early guilty plea meant that he would impose a lesser sentence.

The defendant’s mum and his family were also in court, sitting separately from the victim. Carley wore a black suit for the verdict and carried a holdall in preparation for his inevitable prison sentence.

Jailing him for four-and-a-half years, the judge told Carley he would have to serve half of his sentence in prison before being released on licence. He will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.