Rising star of Labour jailed for sex attack on activist

 A teenage politician tipped as a rising star of the Labour Party is behind bars after sexually assaulting a fellow youth activist.

Dylan Mcaughey – a former member of the UK Youth Parliament – was just 17 and dressed in a onesie when he forced himself on the young woman in December 2014.

Mcaughey, who was also a youth mayor elect in Oldham, Greater Manchester, grabbed the victim’s sleeveless playsuit and undid her bra, then began biting her neck and breast as she tried to fight him off before he sexually assaulted her.

In a statement to police, the victim claimed she was so haunted by the incident that she dropped out of university, quit her part-time job, moved away from her home city and has been referred to an eating disorder clinic following bouts of self-harm.

Referring to Mcaughey, the victim added: “I wake up screaming and sweating with flashbacks of that incident. This is no life – it isn’t my life, because I’m no longer living. You broke me more than I ever thought it was possible to break someone.”

At Manchester Crown Court, Mcaughey, now 19 and a father of one, denied sexual assault but was convicted after a trial and was sentenced to youth custody for two years.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender register for 10 years and was banned from working with children.

Judge Richard Mansell QC told Mcaughey, who had been studying law in the hope of becoming a barrister: “You took advantage of this girl in the most appalling way when she wanted nothing to do with you sexually. You have demonstrated no remorse for this offence.”