Man jailed over prolonged sexual attack on 13-year-old

A man who drove from Bedford to Worthing before abducting a 13-year-old boy and subjecting him to a three-and-a-half-hour ordeal, where he was raped and sexually assaulted, has been jailed for 10 years.

Thomas Crabtree met the boy on Snapchat and sent multiple sexually explicit videos to him, before demanding to meet up with him. Eventually the boy agreed and Crabtree drove from his home in Bedford to Worthing to pick the teenager up from his home in the middle of the night.

Crabtree drove to a remote location near the seafront before raping and sexually assaulting the boy. A car drove past and Crabtree then drove to another location when he continued the attack. The boy repeatedly pleaded with Crabtree to stop and take him home and, eventually Crabtree finally agreed to do so.

The victim told his parents what had happened when he returned home, and Crabtree was arrested at his parents’ home in Norfolk.

Victoria Gedge from the Crown Prosecution Service South East said: “Crabtree carefully planned this utterly appalling attack on a vulnerable young victim, targeting him and grooming him online, before persuading him to meet up and then subjecting him to an horrific and prolonged ordeal, lasting hours.

"None of us can imagine the sheer terror that the victim was subjected to during those hours, but thanks to the fact that he told his parents what had happened to him, we have been able to bring Crabtree to justice for his horrendous crime.”