‘I bet you wish you had never left your friend,’ Nottinghamshire rapist told schoolgirl

Shane Nash followed the girl after she left her best friend at a bus stop, at 8.15 pm on January 29, Dawn Pritchard, prosecuting, told Nottingham Crown Court.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, moved aside when she became aware of someone behind her.

Nash grabbed her and put tape around her mouth so tightly she could hardly breathe. She was screaming and he told her: "Be quiet or I'll stab you."

He dragged her down an alleyway and into a grassy area. He pulled her trousers down and tied her wrists together, saying: "I bet you wish you had never left your friend.”

She told him she wouldn't say anything if he let her go and 39-year-old Nash replied: "That's what they all say."

She was crying and hysterical throughout the ordeal. Nash used a condom, but the court heard she had to wait weeks to get negative HIV results.

In a statement she said: “I would hate for another innocent girl to go through this. I have trouble sleeping and I have bad dreams. I can’t help but sit and cry. It feels like it’s never going away.

"I hope he never walks the streets again. I never imagined it happening to me. What did I do to make him do this to me?”

Her mother said: “My daughter is a warrior princess. She is so brave and strong. I just pray she will recover. I hope he rots in prison.”

Tape with Nash’s DNA was seized from the location and he was arrested on January 31.

Despite the evidence, Nash, of Boniface Gardens, Bestwood, maintained his innocence before pleading guilty to rape and attempted rape, on March 23.

He has 21 convictions for 40 offences between 1999 and 2022, including a four-year prison term for robbing a woman in 2015 with similar features to this case.

Simon Eckersley, mitigating, said he has “long-standing issues” based on a deprived childhood which sparked a severe personality disorder and substance abuse.

Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told Nash: "She and her friend were innocently filming themselves, dancing and enjoying themselves. Because of what you did she will never be happy or innocent again.

“She was the first target you found that fitted the bill – which was to terrify, to abuse, to exercise supreme power over another person. Something that your inadequacies through life have prevented you from doing."

Nash claimed he couldn't remember what happened but the judge rejected this and described what he did as “planned, persistent and brutal.”

Although a knife, latex gloves and a packet of Viagra were found nearby in the Top Valley area, they couldn't be linked to Nash.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 15 years. He must serve ten years in custody before he is considered for release and will be on licence for life. A restraining order, banning him from ever contacting his victim again, was also imposed.