'Mistaken identity' claim by schoolboy, 13, accused of attempted rapes and sexual assaults

The 13-year-old-boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies nine counts of sexual assault, two counts of attempted rape and a charge of assault.

The offences committed against five women aged between 16 and 34 are said to have occurred between December 15, 2022 and January 19 this year in Telford.

The boy is accused of carrying out the spree of sexual offences after he stayed late at school to play football.

Kidderminster Youth Court had heard how the women were attacked between 4pm and 5pm with many of the victims describing their attacker as a boy in a school uniform.

The court had heard from Constable Kieran Gale of West Mercia Police, who said that the boy was identified thanks to his distinctive coat and bag.

CCTV footage also captured the youth on a number of occasions in the vicinity that the attacks took place during similar times, the court heard.

But the youth told arresting officers that it was a case of mistaken identity, the court was told on Wednesday.

The 13-year-old's statement made to West Mercia Police in January was read out in court, and the judge heard how the defendant claimed another youth of a similar appearance was in the area at the same time.

He told officers he often saw this man on his walk home from school, and on at least one occasion after seeing him, a girl had came up to the defendant and accused him of touching her.

The boy told officers: "When I saw him, he ran ahead of me and there is a girl behind him. She was shouting."

He added after being accused of touching the girl, she proceeded to take photographs of him.

"She said 'Don't touch me' and I told her I didn't. I felt scared so I told my mum about it," he said.

On another occasion, the boy claimed he was simply handing back a set of headphones to a young woman when she also began shouting at him.

"I said these are your headphones and she said 'I don't want them, you can have them'," he said.

When told that she had accused him of "inappropriately touching" her, he replied: "I just tried to give her back her headphones."

On a further occasion the boy told investigating officers he had tripped on a shoelace behind a women but denied assaulting her.

He said: "I was trying to do my shoelace and had stepped on it and fell down and realised there was someone in front of me. I did not grab her."

The boy continued: "She told me I touched her leg, but I did not do it."

Defending the 13-year-old, solicitor Jemma Gordon, told the court that at least one of the descriptions given by the victims did not match the defendant nor the description given to police by the other victims.

She said the victim in question had claimed her attacker was 17-19 and taller than the defendant and she asked for the charge to be dropped.

Ms Gordon also told Judge Ian Strongman that there was no case to answer for at least one charge of sexual assault relating to another of the victims, although she made no submission to drop two other charges of sexual assault and one charge of attempted rape relating to the same woman.

The case continues.