March 2023

‘Dangerous’ schoolboy raped girl in alley then assaulted two more on bail

A ‘dangerous sexual predator’ who raped a schoolgirl and sexually assaulted two other teenagers has been jailed.

James Eastwood, who was 16 at the time, raped the teenager after meeting her in an alleyway near a supermarket in Bamber Bridge in June 2019.

Lancashire Police said while on bail he then went on to sexually assault two other teenage girls in May last year.

Eastwood, now 20, formerly of Brindle Road, Bamber Bridge, was jailed for eight years with an extended licence of eight years.

He was also given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a lifetime restraining order and will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

A Judge classed Eastwood as a ‘dangerous offender’ and he was also sentenced for possession of indecent images of children found on his phone.

The judge, who praised the quality of the police investigation, had to sentence Eastwood as if he were a juvenile given the delay in the case reaching court because of the Covid pandemic.