September 2012

Teen rapist abused boys aged 10 and six

A TEENAGE rapist who repeatedly abused a 10-year-old boy has been jailed for five years.

Samuel Cole was himself just 15 or 16 years of age when he committed the offences.

Cole, now aged 22, also got a six-year-old boy to indecently touch himself after taking him to see a ‘magic tree’ while out fishing.

Although he denied the offending against the younger boy, a jury last month found him guilty following a trial at Swindon Crown Court.

Prosecutor Colin Meeke said the more serious offending took place in the Goatacre area between late 2005 and the end of 2007 when that victim was aged between nine and 11.

Mr Meeke said of the rape victim: “When he was about 10 years of age he fell under this young man’s malign eye. He was sexually abused too, but in ways infinitely more serious.”

Mr Meeke revealed that in a victim impact statement, the schoolboy said: “Samuel Cole ruined my childhood. What he did to me will affect me for my entire life.”

Cole, formerly of Harts Close, Goatacre, but now living at Goldsworthy Close, Swindon, admitted three counts of rape and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He pleaded not guilty to causing or inciting the six-year-old to engage in sexual activity, but was convicted following a trial.

Chris Oswald, defending, said his client had learning difficulties and though he was chronologically much older than his victims he operated at a level below his years, was himself a child when the offending took place and could have been as young as 15 when he carried out the rapes.

As well as jailing him for five years, Judge Douglas Field told Cole he must register as a sex offender for life and banned him from ever working with children.

The judge also imposed a sexual offence prevention order for 10 years, restricting Cole’s liberty when he is released from prison.

August 2012

Swindon Crown Court jury convicts 21-year-old from Goatacre

A man who admits child rape has now been found guilty of getting a six-year-old boy to behave indecently while out fishing.

Samuel Cole, 21, of Harts Close, Goatacre, near Calne, was convicted at Swindon Crown Court of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a short trial.

The boy revealed what had happened to him in 2007, when Cole was 16, earlier this year after learning his attacker had been arrested for abusing another young boy.

He told police they had gone for a fishing session at Goatacre with a third youth, but once there the teenager offered to show him a ‘magic tree’. The incident took place when they were out of sight of the others.

The boy said that during the incident Cole did not touch him or ask to be touched by the boy.

In March, Cole admitted repeatedly raping another boy when the victim was aged between nine and eleven.

Now he will face sentence when he returns to court in September.

Cole has pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one of causing or inciting a child under the age of thirteen to engage in sexual activity.

A number of psychiatric reports have been prepared and judge Douglas Field adjourned the case until September 7.

Cole was released on bail on condition he does not have unsupervised contact with children under 18, stays away from Goatacre and lives at Goldsworthy Close, Swindon.