Britain’s youngest ever serial rapist was detained

Britain’s youngest ever serial rapist was detained for life at the Old Bailey today (fri) after he admitted a four brutal attacks in less than a month.

William Senior, 16, was under supervision orders and going to attendance centres when he threatened to kill his victims in dark South London alleyways.

The teenager, originally from Croydon, had mapped out areas near railway stations in his mind and knew locations where he could prey on women without being disturbed.

His victims sat weeping in court as their terrible ordeals were outlined to the Old Bailey judge.

Mr David Harounoff, defending said: ‘If the term serial rapist is to apply in this case, it is my understanding William Senior is the youngest to qualify for that dreadful term.

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The court heard Senior was in care at Ebony Care in Streatham, but simply ignored curfews he was under.

Prosecutor Miss Linda Strudwick said: ‘Senior stalked and preyed upon vulnerable women walking in the vicinity of railway stations.

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His first victim was a 29-year-old who had left a nightclub in Streatham after a row with her boyfriend on the night of October 22 last year.

Senior was lying in wait and pounced on the care assistant on Streatham High Road.

‘Without warning she was grabbed tightly around the neck and waist by Mr Senior,’ Miss Strudwick told the court.

‘He forced her to walk into a side road.

Then he pulled and dragged her to the ground.

‘She was very scared.

She was sure she was about to be raped but she showed great presence of mind.

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The woman suggested they ‘go somewhere quiet’ and Senior agreed, but as they moved away from the side road she grabbed hold a of wall and began screaming at the top of her voice.

Senior threatened to kill her but a resident was awoken and called the police.

The woman fled to police car and Senior was arrested for the attack.

But he was bailed after the woman initially refused to make a complaint.

Judge Timothy Pontius said: ‘It is a tragedy he was free to commit such horrific offences on three other women.

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Senior’s second victim was a 28-year old mature student who was walking home after working behind a bar on November 14.

When she took a short cut through a dark alleyway Senior sprang from the shadows.

He grabbed her from behind, demanding a kiss from the struggling women.

‘She struggled, she lost her glasses.

She tried to kick and scratch him but he succeeded in dragging her further along the alleyway,’ said Miss Strudwick.

‘He threatened to cut her with a knife if she did not shut up.

She was terrified and she was crying.

‘He lay on top of her, pulled down her trousers and knickers down and raped her.

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The skin found in the woman’s fingernails would later provide crucial DNA evidence to link Senior to the attack.

Miss Strudwick said the incident has had an ‘enormous effect’ on the victim.

The rapist struck twice on the night of November 21, first attacking a 30-year-old business woman in Streatham who was extremely safety conscious.

‘Senior must have been waiting and observing for he appeared as if from nowhere,’ said Miss Strudwick.

‘Suddenly he grabbed her from behind with one hand on her mouth and the other on her waist.

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The sobbing woman was dragged to nearby waste ground where Senior kicked and punched her.

She told him she could be his mother or girlfriend but Senior ignored her pleas and carried on with the increasingly violent attack.

‘All I want to do is kiss you,’ he told the woman.

A passer-by heard her screams and the woman managed to shout out: ‘He is trying to rape me, please help.

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Senior ran off but later that night he was in Kingston where a 25-year-old woman was trying to find a nightclub for a Christmas party.

Senior offered to show her the way, but then tried to kiss her in the street.

‘She pushed him away.

He got her on the ground.

She tried to crawl away.

She was screaming, she was fearful,’ said Miss Strudwick.

‘She remembers a stage where Mr Senior was becoming more and more violent.

‘She could not say if the attack that was coming upon her was kicking or punching.

She feared for her life and faked unconsciousness.

‘It was then Senior raped her and left.

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The woman was left with a terribly swollen face and her impact statement ‘details the sheer devastation he has caused to her life,’ said counsel.

Senior admitted two charges of rape and two of indecent assault.

The court heard Senior also admitted robbing a 45-year-old man of his wallet and mobile telephone in Streatham High Road.

In June Senior was put on a 18 month supervision order in for various offences including destroying property, theft, failing to surrender to bail.

On October 20 he was ordered to go to an attendance centre for 18 hours after he was convicted of theft and burglary.

Ordeing Senior’s detention for life Judge Pontius said his guilty pleas had spared the victims from reliving their ‘nightmares’ in court.

But he added: ‘It is difficult in the cold light of this courtroom for me to fully appreciate the extent of the terror your attacks on these victims must undoubtedly have caused.

‘However, it is plain that each offence was accompanied by a vicious brutality and a total lack of concern for your victims.

‘You behaviour was not only merciless but specifically designed to control through fear, each woman you targeted to submit to your will.

The judge then quoted from the impact statement of one of the victims to ‘illustrate her extreme fear.

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‘The more I struggled the more violent he became.

I have never encountered such fear.

I thought he was going to kill me,’ she said.

‘It was like a nightmare.

I thought the only way I was getting out alive was to lie still, close my eyes and stop screaming.

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The judge said the victims would not be able to erase what happened from their minds for many years – if ever.

‘Given the circumstances of this case and in particular, the gravity and repetition and the psychiatric reports presented to me, I am wholly unable to take the responsibility today of assessing when it will be safe for you to be released,’ he said.

‘You are, and for the foreseeable future will remain a danger to the public, and women in particular.

‘I have no alternative but to leave it to others in the due course of time to decide when it is appropriate to release you.

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Senior, who has sat nonchalantly twiddling his curly hair in court, showed no trace of emotion as he was led to court in the prison overalls on ever court appearance.

Speaking after the case, the officer who nailed Senior revealed he is currently investigating whether the thug is linked to any other unsolved sex attacks.

DCI Adrian Maybanks, of Scotland Yard’s Serious Crime Squad, said: ‘He is an extremely violent individual who used excessive force against these women.

‘Undoubtedly, he would have committed more offences had he not been caught.

At no time has Senior shown any remorse, and it’s quite clear that he was carrying out a number of sexual attacks.

‘It is distinctly possible he has committed other offences, which I am reviewing.

If sufficient information comes to light, I will be approaching him to discuss it.

‘The offences became more and more violent as he carried on committing them, and I have no idea why that is.

‘He is a dangerous young man and I am glad, as the officer in the investigation, to have brought him to justice.

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ends