A teenage rapist, who was freed by magistrates to
A teenage rapist, who was freed by magistrates to commit a
catologue of sex and dishonesty offences, was jailed for a total
of 11 years by two different Old Bailey judges today (Fri.
)
Four times Wayne Thomas, 19, appeared before magistrates but
each time they agreed to defence applications to allow him back
on the streets.
Today (Fri) he was branded a danger to the public by Judge
Brian Capstick QC.
‘The public clearly needs protection from you,’ he declared.
Thomas first appeared before West London magistrates on April
23 last year.
He was charged with indecently assaulting a 14 year old
schoolgirl virgin and granted bail.
Four days later he was charged
with the more serious crime of raping the schoolgirl and given bail
on condition he reside at home with his mother.
On September 4 Thomas was arrested for burglary and again granted
bail this time by Ealing Magistrates even though he had breached the
terms of his earlier bail conditions by committing a further
offence.
On September 21, Thomas was committed for trial to the Old Bailey
by West London Magistrates for raping and indecently assaulting the
14-year-old girl.
Bail was continued.
The following month on October 4 Thomas, high on the drug crack,
raped and robbed a 17 year old girl at knifepoint in her own home.
He appeared at Feltham Magistrates on October 8 and this time was
remanded in custody.
Police then discovered 4 stolen credit cards in his bedroom.
They
belonged to four women who had been mugged, late at night in the
Acton area of West London, near to where Thomas lives.
Those
robberies all took place whilst Thomas was on bail.
Mr Dorian Lovell-Pank prosecuting told the court that in the light
of Thomas’ convictions for the more serious offences of rape and robbery
the crown would not proceed with offences relating to the handling
of those cards.
This was to save public money.
Thomas’ catologue of crime resulted in him being tried before
two different Old Bailey judges for rape.
They decided to take
what is believed to be an unprecedented step of each sentencing the
same person on the same day within an hour.
First Thomas appeared in Court 3 at 10am and was sentenced to
six years in a young offenders institution by Judge Bruce Laughland
QC for leading a gang rape attack on the 14-year-old.
Thirty minutes later he was marched into Court 5 to appear before
Judge Brian Capstick QC for the rape and robbery of the 17 year old.
The judge gave him a sentence of five years to run consecutively
with the six years passed by Judge Laughland.
Mr Lovell-Pank had earlier raised the question as to whether such
a procedure was legally correct.
He told Judge Laughland: ‘I have not
come across this situation before.
‘I wonder if your Lordship thinks it is the proper course – whether
two judges can deal with the same man on the same day?’
The judge replied: ‘It is undoubtedly unusual but it doesn’t mean
it is wrong.
‘
Thomas was convicted of the first rape attack by an Old bailey
jury on January 29 this year.
His two co-defendants aged 16 and 17
were both sentenced to four years detention for rape.
On Thursday Thomas was found guilty of the horrific attack of
the 17-year-old advertsing agency worker.
It was then decided that
he should be sentenced for both rape offences today (Fri.
)
The court heard that the first rape was commited in March 23,
1992.
Judge Laughland told Thomas: ‘This was a particularly cruel
and humiliating rape because the girl was only 14.
‘She was not sophisticated in sexual matters.
She was a virgin.
The consequencies of that experience are bound to remain with her
for a very long time.
‘
The judge heard that she was lured from the school gates back
to one of the boys’ homes and raped in a bedroom.
Thomas played
the leading role in the attack.
The court heard that she was crying and struggling throughout
the attack.
When he sentenced Thomas’ two co defendants Marcus West, 17,
and Noel Cadogan, 16, in January the judge warned juvenile sex
offenders: ‘If you are old enough to commit rape, you are old enough
to pay the penalty.
‘
Mr James Doyle defending said: ‘West also had his evil way
with the teenager that day.
All three took part and acted together.
‘
The court heard Thomas’s second attack took place on October 4.
He burst into his victim’s house and terrorised her with a knife.
The teenager worked for an advertising agency.
‘He went mad.
He just flipped,’ she had told the court.
‘It was
obvious what he wanted.
‘
She sobbed hysterically as she described to the jury how he
raped her.
The court heard that after the sex attack he stole her televison,
video stereo and cash.
Judge Capstick told Thomas: ‘This case is aggravated by the fact
that it was committed lss than six months after the first rape and
while you were on bail.
‘The public clearly needs protecting from you.
You have shown
no remorse and made her relive her ordeal in the witness box.
‘
The judge added that he had ‘scaled down the sentence’ in the
light of Thomas’ six year sentence 30 minutes earlier.
Thomas claimed that the teenager consented to sex.
In the
trial of the 14-year-old he blamed his friend Marcus West for what
happened.
Thomas, unemployed of Ferguson Drive, Acton, West london was
found guilty of both rape attacks.
Thomas, who has five GCSEs, admitted
robbing the 17-year-old.
He has a previous conviction for burglary.
His mother wept hysterically in the public gallery each time
he was led down to the cells.
On the second occasion Thomas raised
his hand and said ‘bye,’ when a woman called out, ‘See you Wayne.
‘
Defence counselled blamed his offending on the fact that Thomas
did not have a job.
‘The simple tragedy of this case is he couldn’t find work and
it meant he was back on the streets, purposeless and started taking
drugs.
‘If he had been at work he would not have been on a bus
smoking crack which led to this particular incident,’ said Mr Doyle.
Counsel described the offence as ‘a tragedy’ not only for the
victim, but for Thomas, who ‘has cast away the best years of his
life.
‘
ENDS
