Pensioner, 81, denies historical child rapes
AN 81-year-old man has gone on trial accused of repeatedly raping a girl a decade ago.
Ray Catchpole is said to have invited the girl into his home between 2012 and 2015, where his alleged victim says he forced her to watch pornography before raping her.
The pensioner denies six charges of raping a girl under the age of 13.
Arrangements were made at Teesside Crown Court to ensure Catchpole, who uses a mobility scooter, could get into the courtroom from the lift.
The Middlesbrough man listened through his hearing aid as the prosecution outlined the case against him.
Prosecutor Christine Egerton told the jury the alleged victim said Catchpole had threatened to hurt her brother if she stopped visiting him. She told police her parents thought she was playing with friends when she began talking to Catchpole – and that he initially told her she was, “pretty” but later she should be treated like a prostitute.
The alleged victim didn’t report the rapes until 2020, and Catchpole was then arrested and interviewed by police. He denied that he had had any sexual contact with the girl but said she had come into his house a number of times.
Ms Egerton told the court officers searching Catchpole’s house had found pornographic DVDs and an xBox games console. Catchpole had admitted he had an interest in young girls and that he had watched pornography featuring girls aged 11-15.
The alleged victim said she found it difficult to talk about what had happened because it left her feeling “dirty and embarrassed” so she wrote a note which she called, “My mental breakdown.”
In the note, which the girl said she was writing to, “deal with the thing going on in my head” she said talking about her alleged ordeal made her cry and she didn’t like saying the name of the man she accuses of raping her.
The girl wrote she told the police it had happened 30 plus times, but she had lowered the numbers because she felt embarrassed. She said she had been raped by Catchpole, “50 plus times”.
Ms Egerton told the jury police also spoke to the girl’s brother, who told them he had been in Catchpole’s house and saw, “lots of magazines with undressed women on them.”
Catchpole, of Egmont Road in central Middlesbrough, denies the offences. The trial continues.