Pair who were 17 and 18 when they raped 'vulnerable' woman in Shropshire hotel are locked up

Harley King, now aged 19, from Newcastle, and Ben Jennings, aged 20, from Cramlington, in Northumberland, have both been given custodial sentences of eight years and six months after being found guilty at Shrewsbury Crown Court in June.

King was found guilty of three offences – two charges of raping a woman aged 16 and over and one charge of voyeurism or recording a private act.

Jennings was convicted of two charges of rape of a woman aged 16 and over, and one sexual assault charge of a female aged 16.

The charges related to offences that took place in Oswestry in 2022.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Thursday that the pair had attacked their “vulnerable” victim in a hotel when she was visiting the town with a group of other young people.

The offenders had raped and assaulted her in her hotel room after only meeting her that day, the court heard.

Simon Parry prosecuting said that the two offenders were just 17 and 18 when they attacked their victim and their assaults had been conducted when they were “under the influence of alcohol”.

Circuit Judge, Laura Hobson, said she accepted that neither of the two defendants knew of their victim's vulnerability at the time of the attack, but added that it raised the level of harm affecting the young woman.

She told the two men: “I heard your trial. I heard the evidence of your victim. When you tell the probation officers that you were wrongly convicted, it would be worth remembering it was not just her word that convicted you,

“Your victim was drunk and the only girl in a large group of men on that trip. She was a vulnerable young woman. You did not know her background, I accept that. But the situation was engineered by you to be left alone with her.”

She said the pair “used her in the most inhumane way”.

The judge said the pair's "overall culpability was the same" and she handed them both a sentence of eight years and six months.

She told the pair they would serve their sentences in a young offender's institution.

She added that they would both be on the sex offenders register for life.