A 15-year-old boy has pleaded not guilty at Northampton Crown Court to 22 sexual offences against eight girls, one of whom was 10 years old when she was allegedly raped.
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared in court on Friday and denied all charges relating to incidents alleged to have taken place between 2023 and 2025. The alleged victims were aged between 10 and 15 at the time, a youth court previously heard. The defendant, who was accompanied by his mother, was arraigned from a seat at the back of the courtroom.
Charges include rape and sexual assault
The youth is charged with one count of rape, one count of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration. He is also charged with 12 counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13.
He faces two charges of making an indecent image of a child, one count of possession of a prohibited image of a child, and one of possession of an extreme pornographic image. The court heard that some of the sexual assault allegations relate to the defendant touching the girls over and under their clothing. One of the indecent image charges relates to the alleged possession of three Category C images of children.
Trial date set and bail conditions
Judge Rebecca Crane told the defendant that his trial will begin on October 25 next year and is expected to last three to four weeks. The boy was granted conditional bail. Conditions include not contacting the alleged victims or witnesses, having no unsupervised contact with females under 16 and engaging with the Youth Justice Service.
