Boy, 12, placed on sex offender's register after raping younger boy before he'd let him play on trampoline

A jury at Bradford Crown Court heard a boy aged five was forced to perform a sex act on the older boy, in return for being allowed to play on the trampoline in a garden in Bradford, West Yorkshire in August last year.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been cleared of similar charges against an eight-year-old.

He will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and sentenced on 28th March.

John Lodge, prosecuting, told the jury of seven women and five men there might have been an element of childish experimentation by the 12-year-old.

He said: "This case is about three children. Rape can be a dreadful and unspeakable crime but it covered a wide variety of different acts."

He said the boy at the centre of the alegations was accused of rape and sexual touching. After the sex acts, the boy told his young victims not to tell anyone, the jury heard.

But the five-year-old went straight to his grandmother and the police were called.

The prosecution said the 12-year-old admitted he asked the younger child to perform a sex act but insisted to police that nothing had actually happened with either boy.

The eight-year-old told the jury via video link that the 12-year-old threatened to slap him if he didn't do as he was told. "It was gross, horrible and weird," he said.

He said he originally denied anything sexual had happened because he was scared his pocket money would be stopped or he would not be believed. He said that when he was abused he felt sad to be doing "something so ridiculous."

The 12-year-old will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and sentenced on 28 March.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it believed the 12-year-old boy was the youngest person to be convicted of rape in West Yorkshire.

Neil Franklin, chief crown prosecutor for West Yorkshire, said: "Any case where the perpetrator and victim are both children will always involve extremely difficult decisions and very careful judgement on the part of prosecutors, particularly where there is evidence of a sexual crime.

"We are satisfied that the right decisions were taken in dealing with this case."

During the trial the judge sat without his formal wig and gown to avoid intimidating the young defendant.