Teenager cleared of tramp abuse (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Teenager cleared of tramp abuse

3:24pm Thursday 19th July 2007 in News By Alex Lewis

A TEENAGER who had oral sex with a tramp outside St Albans City train station has been cleared of forcing him into the act.

The 18-year-old, who like the tramp can not be named for legal reasons, was this afternoon found not guilty of oral rape at St Albans Crown Court.

The incident happened on May 6 last year.

A 41-year-old homeless alcoholic claimed the defendant, then 17, had befriended him as he picked up dog ends outside the station.

Lured to a stairwell in the car park with the offer of a lift, the tramp claimed, he was forced into oral sex.

But the jury believed the teenager, who claimed the tramp had prompted intimacies by stroking his leg, and the pair then had consensual oral sex.

However, the younger man was convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm in relation to a fight that then broke out between the pair.

Sentencing for the assault was adjourned until September 3.