Man jailed for raping 'vulnerable' lost teenager

A homeless man has been jailed after he raped an "obviously vulnerable" teenager who found herself lost in Nottingham.

Joseph Healey targeted the 18-year-old and took her to an area off Canal Street on 20 June last year.

Nottingham Crown Court heard police were alerted to the scene by the victim's friends after she messaged her live location from her phone.

Healey, 44, and of no fixed address, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of rape on the first day of a planned trial, and was sentenced to eight years and one month on Friday.

The court heard the victim was due to take a train home on the day of the attack, but when it was cancelled she tried to find a bus home instead.

Peter Finnigan KC, prosecuting, said the teenager "wasn't too sure where she was" and "started panicking" as she sat down outside Nottingham College in Canal Street, where she was approached by the defendant, who sat down next to her.

"He then asked her if she wanted to walk down to the canal to clear her head for a minute," he said.

"At this point, she trusted him."

The court heard Healey gave the girl anti-anxiety medicine to calm her down, then took her to an area where he had been sleeping. He told her he had recently been released from a life sentence in prison.

Finnigan said the defendant "started making sexual comments to her", which made her uncomfortable.

"It was at this point that she started to send her live location to friends, asking them to call police because she didn't feel safe," he said.

After asking the girl for sex, the court heard he began performing sex acts on her before forcing himself on her.

Finnigan said the victim was trying to hide her tears through fear of her attacker.

"At the time this was happening she couldn't move, because his whole body was on top of her," he said.

"She thought he was going to kill her."

The court heard the victim managed to get free, and when police arrived at the scene at about 20:00 BST "she ran out from behind a pillar in a state of extreme distress".

She pointed Healey out to police, and he was arrested shortly afterwards.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the teenager said she continued to suffer lasting trauma from the assault.

"My life has been turned upside down, and I've not been out since," she said.

"He was a stranger who took my trust and broke it... he sought me out because I was vulnerable."

Sentencing, Judge Mark Watson said Healey - who has 94 previous convictions and was on licence at the time of the offence - will be on extended licence for three years and 11 months on his release.

He will also have to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Describing the defendant as a danger to the public, the judge said the victim was "young, lost and unsettled" and "obviously vulnerable" when he targeted her.

"You took advantage of her," he said.

"Given her harrowing presentation to the police in the immediate aftermath, it's difficult to see that you could not pick up on the cues that she was distressed."

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