A TEENAGER sexually assaulted a girl in a Little Lever park and raped a 12-year-old who had befriended him.

Ellis Critchley, aged 18, was described in court as "immature and egotistical" and has shown no remorse for the crimes he committed.

"You have only admitted as much or as little as you thought you could get away with," Recorder Jeremy Lasker told him.

Rachel Faux, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court how Critchley, who had been brought up in care, committed his first offences in the spring of 2018.

He was among a group of youths in the park behind the Food and Tipple store when he targeted a 15 year-old girl, touching her private parts, grabbing her and putting his hand inside her jeans.

"You were told, not only by her, but others in the group, to stop it, but you just laughed it off and you told her 'you know you want it'", Recorder Lasker told him.

On another occasion he slapped her backside so hard it made her cry.

The offences came to light when police began investigating a rape Critchley committed in June of that year.

Critchley, then aged 15, befriended a 12-year-old girl and one night contacted her at 1am saying he was feeling "down" so, unknown to her family, she slipped out to meet him and brought him back to her house.

But after sitting on her bed talking and playing computer games, he pinned her down and raped her.

Afterwards he got dressed and let himself out of the house, but the girl was so concerned about his state of mind that she went after him.

The next day the girl told a friend at school, her family became aware and police were contacted.

When confronted by police about his behaviour he denied the allegations before trying to claim the incidents had been consensual.

Critchley, of Goldfinch Drive, Bury, only pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault and rape on the day of a trial, but admitted burgling a Lidl store in Standish on January 9 last year.

At his sentence hearing both victims read out statements outlining the devastating impact his crimes have had.

Mark Shanks said that Critchley now feels "shame" for what he put them through.

He added: "Since that time he has matured significantly into a young man who does know right from wrong."

Sentencing Critchley to four years in a young offenders' institution Recorder Lasker told him: "I accept you had a difficult background. I know that you have been in care and, as has been described to me, you have been brought up by the system.

"But that is no excuse for acting in this way towards these two girls.

"You exhibited a belief, at the time, that young girls were only there for your own sexual enjoyment and you showed absolutely no understanding in what a proper relationship between two young people means.

"You didn't seem to understand that girls are entitled to say no to a boy and also, when a girl does say no, it actually does mean no. I hope you realise that today."