A TEENAGER who raped and sexually abused a child has been jailed for two years.

Thomas Butterworth, 18, of Portmore Gardens, Weymouth, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual offences, including rape.

Dorset Police were unable to provide a picture of Butterworth. 

At Dorchester Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of rape. 

The offences took place between August 2008 and August 2012 when the defendant was between 12 and 15 years old.

The charges all applied to the same female victim who was aged between eight and 12 when the offences took place. 

The offences only came to light when the victim told a friend and a counsellor about what had happened, the court heard.

Rufus Taylor, prosecuting, told the court how Butterworth sexually assaulted the young girl and also tried to get her to perform sex acts on him, but she often refused.

The court also heard how Butterworth had become fascinated with the female body. 

Judge Peter Johnson said that the offending, which did not take place in Weymouth, was continuous and took place over a number of years. 

Timothy Shorter, mitigating, said that if he had been arrested at the time, Butterworth would have been tried as a child. Mr Shorter therefore asked for a sentence in line with reasoning due to Butterworth's at the time of the offending.

Butterworth denied that the offending had gone on until he was 15 and said that the rape took place due to him being “reckless” rather than acting on purpose.

However, Judge Johnson did not accept either of these as a basis for his guilty pleas. 

Butterworth also claimed that the acts were consensual but Judge Johnson also rejected this.

He said: “You were causing her pain. She was asking you to stop. 

“She was not happy with this but time after time you abused her.”

The court heard how both the offences and having to come to court to give evidence had impacted the victim. 

Mr Shorter said that while what had happened would surely have an effect on the victim it also would on the defendant. 

Judge Johnson sentenced Butterworth to two years in prison for the charge or rape.

He was handed 12 months on three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, eight months for one count of sexual assault on a child under 13 and eight months for causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity. 

These sentences run concurrently.