Two teenagers took it in turns to rape a schoolgirl at the Appleby Horse Fair after ‘frogmarching’ her down an alleyway, a jury heard.
The 15-year-old’s terrifying ordeal took place in 2019 and was outlined during the trial of the boys, who have since turned 18.
The pair, who are first cousins, had denied the assault. But they were convicted by a jury following a three-week trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
The teenagers, who have not been named, now face being jailed for raping their underaged victim.
The girl was raped by two teenagers in May 2019. Pictured are police at the 2022 Appleby Horse Fair
Outlining the case as the trial got under way, prosecutor Tim Evans said the schoolgirl had been attending the horse fair with her family in May 2019.
On the day of the attack, she had been in town with two friends before she encountered her two attackers, whom she had never met.
‘The defendants shouted at her, followed her and her wrist was grabbed as she walked across a bridge,’ Mr Evans said as he described them ‘frogmarching’ her to an alleyway.
‘She was then taken down a secluded lane on the town centre side of the bridge.’
As one of the defendants acted as a lookout at one end of the lane, the other raped the girl before they changed places, with the second boy then raping her.
Summarising the girl’s account of the incident, Mr Evans said: ‘She will tell you that she was scared throughout and how she was repeatedly telling them no.’
The jury later heard that after the attack, one of the boys said he wanted to continue with the sexual assault. But the victim managed to flee.
In an interview with detectives after the ordeal, a friend of the girl said when the youngster rejoined the group she appeared ‘scared and shaking’.
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The traumatised teen then begged her friends ‘get me out of here’ while appearing ‘very shaken up’, the court heard.
The two teenaged attackers involved in the 2019 rape of the 15-year-old girl now face being jailed after being convicted by a jury. Pictured is the Appleby Horse Fair in June
The jury also heard evidence from a boy who was among the victim’s group of friends, who said she trembled when he hugged her and that she looked ‘very pale as though she was going to faint’ after she came back from the bridge.
Speaking of the lead up to the attack, Mr Evans described how the teenager and her friends had been on a bridge when the defendants shouted at her, asking for her name.
‘They were asking if she wanted to go for a walk with them but she was fobbing them off,’ said the prosecutor.
It was at this point he said that the pair took her hand and ‘marched her over the bridge’ and down the alleyway.
After reporting the incident to police, the girl then managed to pick out the two culprits during an identity parade on July 9.
In their defence, the pair of defendants insisted that the girl had consented to the sexual activity.
But addressing these claims in court, Mr Evans urged the jury to consider how likely it was that a young girl would have sex with two total strangers within minutes of meeting them,
‘Or is it that these two defendants were desperate to get sexual contact with a female that day – any female?’ he said.
Both defendants remained silent during their police interview, the court later heard.
The jury took ten hours and 43 minutes to deliver two guilty verdicts. Both teenagers were remanded in custody following the verdict to be sentenced at the same court on February 17.
The Appleby Horse Fair sees thousands of travellers from across Europe attending the festival each year.
