Brave teenager praised for helping to put dangerous predator behind bars
A prosecutor who helped to lead efforts to put child rapist Wayne Scarratt behind bars has praised the 13-year-old victim for her brave testimony in the case.
The 30-year-old was this week sentenced to life with a minimum term of 19 years for the violent attack on the girl at a park on the Walsall-Lichfield border.
Scarratt, who had only been released from prison two weeks before the attack on August 7 last year initially denied he had ever even met the victim.
He later claimed he thought she was around 16 and that they had consensual sex, but his lies unravelled when prosecutors and police proved there were several messages where the victim told him she was a child.
