Millom man in court for rape and sexual abuse of teenager

Nicholas Peel, of Lapstone Road, Millom, is on trial at the Sessions House building of Preston Crown Court after being charged with four counts of rape.

In addition, the 27-year-old is said to have committed two further sexual assaults against the same plaintiff.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Rosalind Scott Pell told the jury that Peel allegedly began his offence by intentionally touching the plaintiff without her consent during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Ms Scott Bell said there was a gap in the defendant’s offending then until 2021.

She told the court that this was the first time Peel had raped the plaintiff.

The prosecution said it could be sure of this because the victim wrote a letter to her mother about the incident. The court was told the mother never received the letter.

Ms Scott Bell told the court the girl finally told her mother about the defendant’s behaviour in 2022, when the matter was first reported to police.

The court was told that while the alleged victim was able to tell police officers when she was first and last raped by the accused, she could not remember the exact dates on the other two occasions.

The prosecutor stated in court that the plaintiff had repeatedly told Peel to “no” and “go away” at every opportunity.

She told officers she was “frozen”, “didn’t know what to do” and was “terrified” because she didn’t know what was going to happen, the court was told.

The plaintiff told officers that she was sexually abused by the defendant in 2022.

Peel was stopped by police and arrested on the M6 ​​shortly after midnight on March 28, 2022.

Later that day, he was interviewed and answered all questions with “no comment.”

The process continues.