Maidstone Crown Court
A 16-year-old boy has been convicted at Maidstone Crown Court on a charge of rape Getty

A Medway teenager has been jailed at Maidstone Crown Court for raping an eight-year-old boy in an alleyway.

The 16 year old, who was 14 at the time of the offence and cannot be named for legal reasons, was imprisoned after Judge Michael Carroll considered him to still represent a danger to the public.

He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and was told he will serve at least two thirds of the sentence before he can be considered for release, after which he will be on licence for a further four years.

During the trial, jurors heard how the boy dragged his victim by his trouser pocket to an alleyway and twice raped him.

There was an element of violence in the build up to the attack, the judge said, after the victim refused to go to a nearby field with the rapist.

Defending the accused, John Barker said the boy was "in a very bad place" at the time of the sex attack, Kent Online reported, and that he needed support.

Summing up, Carroll said the boy posed a significant risk of harming the public and that his prison sentence would have started at 12 years were he an adult.