Two friends jailed for nine years after raping drunk woman, 18, in alleyway just minutes after meeting her for first time on nightclub dance floor

Two men who led a drunk teenager from a nightclub to an alleyway where they subjected her to a rape 'of the most squalid kind' were today jailed for nine years each.

A judge told Craig Whitelaw and Kristofer McLaren they used the 'drunk and vulnerable' woman as a 'play thing' in a 50-minute ordeal that left her looking as though she had been in a fight.

Appearing at Teesside Crown Court, the two 21-year-olds were each convicted of one count of rape, while Whitelaw was also found guilty of a further charge of sexual assault.

Both men will have to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Jailed: Craig Whitelaw, left, and Kristofer McLaren, right, both 21, are beginning nine-year jail sentences for 'a rape of the most squalid kind' after they attacked a woman they had just met on the dancefloor of a nightclub

Jailing the pair, Mr Justice Males told them their victim was 'so drunk that she was vulnerable and defenceless to your exploitation.'

But, he told them, 'there should be no doubt that what you did was still rape, and rape of the most squalid kind.'

'Your victim was very unwise to allow herself to drink so much that she became so thoroughly inebriated,' the judge said. 

'But it was you, and only you, who deliberately took advantage of her condition, to take her to a dark alley to see what fun you could have with her.

'It's just lasses attention-seeking': What Whitelaw, pictured arriving at court for an earlier hearing, said of the victim after he was arrested by police

'It was you who decided to treat her body as a plaything on which to act out your sordid fantasies of having a threesome.'

McLaren, of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and Whitelaw, of Sutton, near Thirsk, had denied the charges against them. They claimed their victim had instigated the sexual encounter and had consented throughout.

But at the end of a nine-day trial a jury of ten men and two women rejected their accounts.

In a victim impact statement, the traumatised victim - who had never before had a sexual experience - said she had worried for some months that she had contracted an STD and also feared that she may have been pregnant.

Whitelaw and McLaren had been drinking for most of the day before going to Club Amadeus, a popular dance venue in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

They they met the 18-year-old victim for the first time on the dance floor and shared a kiss. But within 11 minutes, they had steered her outside and down a nearby alleyway.

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe told the court that the pair took advantage of the fact she was intoxicated. CCTV showed her 'stumbling repeatedly and often' as she was led out of the night club.

What followed was a fifty minute ordeal which left McLaren and Whitelaw's victim looking as though she had been in a fight.

When they had finished with her, McLaren and Whitelaw ignored their bleeding victim's pleas for help finding her friends; instead they left her in the dark alleyway and caught a a cab away from the scene.

Laughing and joking as they made their way home, they even boasted to the driver about what they had just done, police said.

When Whitelaw was arrested, he admitted having sex, but claimed it was consensual, and said: 'It's just lasses attention-seeking.'

Inebriated: Whitelaw and McLaren had been drinking for most of the day before going to Club Amadeus, pictured, a popular dance venue in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, where they met their victim

Detective Inspector Fiona Wynne of Northallerton's Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit had helped to investigate the case. She welcomed the sentences.

'I am delighted that justice has been delivered for the victim. She was subjected to a sustained attack by McLaren and Whitelaw. They treated her like a piece of meat and left her bleeding and distressed,' said DI Wynne.

It's particularly distressing that it was the victim's first sexual experience and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life

Detective Inspector Fiona Wynne

'They laughed and joked about it afterwards, even boasting to the taxi driver about what had just happened when they left the scene.

'I can't imagine how any woman would feel after such an ordeal, but it is particularly distressing that it was the victim's first sexual experience and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life.'

The victim's family thanked the police and their partner organisations for the support they had shown their daughter throughout her ordeal.

'From the minute the police picked our daughter up she has been treated with the utmost respect and sympathy by everyone who has had contact with her,' the family said in a statement.

'This includes every police officer involved, the support services and the court officials. We would like to extend our thanks to all concerned.

'Everyone has acted with a high degree of professionalism, but at the same time have been very kind. Thank you.'

SEX CRIMES AT 10-YEAR HIGH AS 'YEWTREE EFFECT' ENCOURAGES VICTIMS

The number of recorded sexual offences is at a 10-year high, official figures show.

In the year to March 2014 there were a total of 64,205 sex crime incidents across England and Wales, an increase of a fifth on the previous year.

Within that, the number of rapes increased 26 per cent to 20,745 incidents, while the number of other sexual offences increased 17 per cent fo 43,460 incidents.

The Office for National Statistics said the increases may in part be because victims are more willing to come forward after the high-profile prosecutions of public figures such as Rolf Harris and Fred Talbot.

'While some of these increases will be a direct consequence of the historical crimes reported as part of Operation Yewtree, there is evidence to suggest that there has been a wider "Yewtree effect",' the ONS said in a statement.

'This refers to an increased willingness on the part of victims of sexual offences that are not directly connected to Yewtree to come forward to report both historical and recent sexual offences.'