WAKEFIELD PREDATOR JAMIE FRETWELL JAILED FOR RAPING SLEEPING TEEN
A Wakefield predator who attacked a sleeping teenager after buying her booze has been jailed.Jamie Fretwell, now 23, was 18 when he subjected the 16-year-old to the vile ordeal, Leeds Crown Court heard on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Camille Morland said Fretwell had been asked to join the girl and a group of her friends by one of the members as they drank in the town centre in August 2022.
Everyone went home, and the girl was left with predator Fretwell.
The court heard at one stage, the girl messaged a friend on Snapchat, telling them: "Help I have been sexual harassed." Ms Morland said: "She had no memory of sending them the messages but did remember being at the car park intoxicated.
At around 6am they went to a ramp that led to a building in the centre.
She went to sleep and he waited a few minutes after this before he began to touch her over clothing and then under.
CCTV shows him moving the bottles between them and showed him raping her for a period of 12 minutes.
Her evidence was that she woke up during the rape and realised.
She pretended to be asleep and he then stopped.
Fretwell, of Earl Street in Wakefield, then went on to assault the girl by penetration at the location at Mulberry Way and St Christopher's Walk.
Following the rape and sexual assault he then put the bottles back and laid down on his back.
The court heard that Fretwell went on to point out the CCTV camera.
The girl went to a friend's house and told her mum about what had happened and the police were called.
Fretwell, who had a previous conviction for arson while being reckless, was found guilty of assault by penetration at an initial trial, and rape at a retrial.
In a victim personal statement, the girl said she is still struggling with the effects of his offending "years later." She said: "I have lost so much weight and sometimes can't get any food down at all and my mum has to try and get me to try and eat different foods to help me.
I have thoughts of hurting myself and constant nightmares." The girl said certain drinks, clothing brands and a particular song trigger her.
She said: "My anxiety has become much worse and I have daily panic attacks." Mitigating, Paul Addison told the court: "This offending occurred, I submit, when he was a socially inexperienced and immature 18-year-old.
He has no previous convictions for sexual offending...He too has a background of mental illness that has been present since he was an adolescent.
He has been marred by multiple suicide attempts and self-harm.
He is clearly been a troubled young man.
The night before these offences he was home alone and essentially minding his own business.
The complainant and her friends were out and had been drinking and wanted more drink and wanted someone to buy drinks for them.
They were unable to purchase it themselves so the complainant suggested that one of her friends contact him and ask him to come out.
As the court will recall, he didn't want to go and it took a number of attempts to persuade him to come out..." The court heard a doctor's report had been undertaken which said Fretwell has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
Mr Addison said: "The disorder is characterised by deficits in social communication.
He is also diagnosed with having mixed depressive anxiety disorder.
Just to highlight one of the two paragraphs, it says he exhibits the core features of autism." His Honour Judge Stubbs asked: "Did the doctor see the evidence where he is raping a sleeping 16-year-old girl and form the opinion that the autism meant he couldn't tell someone was asleep?" Mr Addison said it was "highly unlikely" the doctor saw the CCTV, but he was given a summary of the prosecution's case.
He added: "In my submission, the moving of the bottles and pointing up to the CCTV cameras is one of the autistic traits.
One of the traits is wanting things to be in an orderly way.
I invite you to consider whether that is the case that this is an autistic trait rather than him covering up his actions." The judge said: "I think he moved the bottles as quiet as a mouse so he didn't wake her up and moved them back again." Fretwell was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, with the judge emphasizing the victim's vulnerability, her alcohol and drug use, and the fact that there was no mutual sexual attraction.
The judge added that the girl was worried from the beginning, messaging friends for help, and that Fretwell manhandled her to the point of sexual activity while she was unable to prevent it, even though she froze in fear and was incapable of resisting.
