Leeds Utd ‘superfan’ Alan Fawcett gets 13 years for raping teenager

Ex-soldier Alan Fawcett, 63, was unanimously convicted of four sample rape allegations after a retrial at Northampton Crown Court.

The self-styled Leeds United “superfan”, who served 22 years in the Army including tours of Northern Ireland, denied the charges.

Matthew Lowe, prosecuting, said: “In a nutshell, the prosecution say this defendant raped her and did so on a number of occasions.

“For his part, he denies there was sexual activity between the two of them during that time and it will be for you, the jury, to decide, where the truth can be found.”

The victim, who cannot be named, told the jury she was regularly subjected to rapes on numerous occasions.

Mr Lowe said the girl was raped on numerous occasions, including occasions when Fawcett took her to Yorkshire to watch Leeds United, where he was known for his yellow match day attire.

A jury failed to reach conclusive verdicts in April but Fawcett was convicted of four rapes over a period of three years after a five-day trial.

Fawcett, of Collingtree, was jailed for 13 years and will be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life. He was also banned from having any unsupervised contact with children.

Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC said: “The evidence I have heard shows you were a manipulative, bullying and controlling man and it became apparent to me during the course of the trial that what developed in you 
was, in effect, an obsession with her. It was not in any sense true love. Had it been, you would never have subjected her to the rapes that you did,

“Manipulative, controlling, obsessional. You exercised your power over her by threats, and loss of temper in such a way she was not able to break away.”