Rape case dropped against sexual predator who snatched six-year-old from bath

Peter Voisey, 35, who was given three life sentences after he kidnapped a six-year-old girl from her bath and then raped her today had a further allegation of rape against him dropped.

Peter Voisey, 35, was due to go on trial today accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in Newcastle in 1997.

But a judge at Doncaster Crown Court stayed the indictment after prosecutors said Voisey could not be given a fair trial.

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Surrounded by prison guards, shaven headed Voisey smiled and stroked his beard in the dock as Judge Jackie Davies agreed to stop the proceedings.

Last year a judge in Newcastle jailed Voisey after a jury heard how he snatched the young girl from her North Tyneside bathroom and abused her before abandoning her in a snow covered alleyway.

He was told he must serve a minimum of 10 years in prison but was warned he may never be released.

Voisey, of Blyth, Northumberland, was charged last year with a separate rape of a 15-year-old girl.

At a hearing earlier this year Carl Gumsley, defending, told Judge Davies he could only conduct Voisey's defence properly by asking the complainant, who is now in her 20s, why she did not come forward with her allegation for almost a decade.

The court heard how this delay could not be explained without reference to the rape of the girl snatched from the bath - a reference that would seriously prejudice his case.

Judge Davies refused Mr Gumsley's application to throw out the case at the previous hearing.

But today Robert Woodcock, prosecuting, told her he had come to the same conclusion as the defence and the judge changed her decision.

Voisey, who was charged under the name Peter Ivor Smith, left court following the brief hearing to continue his life sentence.

No details of the 1997 allegation were given in court.