15-year-old boy charged with 22 sexual offences against eight girls granted bail
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape and sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
A 15-year-old boy charged with sexual offences against eight girls, including one who was 10 years old, has appeared in court.
Northamptonshire's Wellingborough Youth Court heard that the boy is accused of rape and sexual assault against eight victims who were aged between 10 and 15 at the time.
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, has been charged with 22 offences relating to alleged incidents between 2023 and 2025.
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He was not asked to enter any pleas during the 20-minute hearing on Tuesday (21 July).
The boy, who was accompanied by his mother, was not asked to enter the dock and took a seat at the back of the courtroom.
He has been charged with 12 counts of sexually assaulting a female, three counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, and one count of raping a girl under 13.
He is also charged with one count of assaulting a female aged 13 and over by penetration with a part of the body or thing, one count of raping a girl aged 13-15, and two counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child.
He faces further charges of possessing a prohibited image of a child and another of possessing an extreme pornographic image or images.
District Judge Amar Mehta told the teen: "Your case is too serious to be tried in this court. Therefore it’s going to be tried at the crown court at Northampton.
"I’m going to send your case to Northampton Crown Court for another hearing similar to this one."
The teenager was told to appear at that court next month (18 August).
He was granted conditional bail, instructing him not to contact the alleged victims, to have no unsupervised contact with females under 16, and to engage with the Northamptonshire Youth Justice Service.
The boy spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address, and to ask the judge what the Youth Justice Service was.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Rhiannon Ingle