Drunken Scout raped teenager walking dogs

Owen Tappin was only 16 and had never been in trouble before when he suddenly struck last May, subjecting his victim, a stranger, to a terrifying ordeal during which he dragged her to a secluded wooded area, struck her in the face and squeezed her by the throat.

He also told her if she did not do as she was told she would not be going home, that "she would lie there and no one would ever find her", Richard Gioserano, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

A number of people witnessed the start of the incident but wrongly thought they were just a young couple arguing and did not realise it was a rapist overpowering his victim.

Sentencing Tappin, now 17, to an indeterminate period in detention for public protection, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said it was "a very troubling case."

Although there was nothing similar in his background and there were documents in Tappin's support suggesting he was not considered a continuing risk, one report indicated the youth had distorted views about women.

Judge Marson said he believed there was "an alternative and dark side to this defendant" which meant he was a continuing danger. "These were dreadful offences."

The attack had been persistent, maintained after the girl tried to get away from him and he had not only raped her but subjected her to other degradation.

He ordered Tappin should serve a minimum of three years in custody, minus the time spent on remand but warned him the Parole Board would consider his release only when satisfied he no longer needed to be detained for the protection of the public.

Tappin, of Parkwood Road, Leeds, admitted two charges or rape on May 9.

Mr Gioserano said the teenager was a member of a Scout group and had been to a Scout party in a church hall. "Although only 16, his father had allowed him to drink there, believing he would drink responsibly."

He left the hall about 11.30pm and subsequently spotted the teenage girl as she let her dogs off their leads on a grassed area.

She was speaking on a mobile phone and had just said she thought someone was following her when he suddenly attacked her from behind and the call went dead.

She ran away from Tappin but he pursued and caught her, forcing her to the ground. She was shouting to him to get off her but more than one witness thought they were a couple.

Mr Gioserano said when Tappin marched the girl off with his arm around her shoulder one woman assumed they had made up. Instead he took her to a more secluded area where he said they would not be seen.

He tore her top and raped her, slapping her face when she would not do as he wished. He subjected her to other sexual indignities and squeezed her throat when she objected.

At one point he vomited because of the drink he had taken. Eventually he pulled his trousers up and said: "Right slapper, I'm off."

The next day when police inquiries into the rape became public Tappin's father who had seen him cleaning mud from his jeans and had scratch marks on his throat, asked him about events the night before.

At first the teenager said he had been attacked himself then said he had seen a girl but nothing sexual had happened. His father took him to the police station.

Kama Melly, for Tappin, said it had taken time and courage for the teenager to admit to his "appalling crimes".

He was an immature 16-year-old at the time and drink had clearly played a substantial part in the offences, she said.