A TEENAGER who repeat-edly raped a ‘pre-pubescent child’, who kept quiet about her ordeal at his hands, is facing a jail term.

Burnley Crown Court was told how Joshua Ashton, now 21, had dominated the Accrington schoolgirl, phys- ically, emotionally and sex-ually, and told her to shut up as she rejected his adv-ances.

On one occasion he was molesting her, he told her it was ‘just a bit of fun’.

The hearing was told Ashton asserted the girl’s allegations were a ‘pack of lies’, and told police she was an attention seeker.

But, a jury did not believe him and he was yesterday convicted of three charges of rape of a child under 13.

The defendant, of Albert Street, Clayton-le-Moors, who had denied the allegations, was remanded in custody until May 27, by Judge Jonathan Gibson, for a pre-sentence report, Prosecutor Sarah John-son told the court Ashton was a teenager when he attacked the girl.

The barrister said: “The defendant had the opport-unity, he had the desire, and he had the persistence to force himself upon her.”

Miss Johnson said Ashton played with the buckle on the victim’s lower cloth-ing, and quickly pulled down her pants, as she repeatedly said ‘no’.

He got on top of her and she described shock and, perhaps understandably, not really understanding what was going on.

The girl didn’t tell anybody.

Miss Johnson said on the second occasion, Ashton used his body weight to force himself on the girl.

The prosecutor said during the third rape, the girl described feeling pain and told Ashton to get off her, or she would scream.

Miss Johnson said in 2011, the girl finally told her sister and mother what had gone on.

Police were called, the defendant was interviewed and ‘flatly denied’ any sexual contact with the girl.