Rape victim, 15, forced to move house

THE SCHOOLGIRL rape victim at the centre of the ' pounds 500 for a good holiday' case has been forced to leave her home town, it was disclosed yesterday.

Her family have left their home in Cwmbran, Gwent, after discovering that her teenage attacker, who cannot be named in order to protect his victim's anonymity, is being allowed home from a detention centre on weekend leave.

The girl, 15, is now staying at a secret address while her parents search for another house to make sure the rapist, also 15, and his victim need never meet again. A family friend said: 'She cannot face bumping into the boy that raped her every time she walks around the corner. There is something wrong with justice in this country when a rapist is walking around having a happy weekend while his victim is still living in a nightmare.'.

Judge John Prosser provoked protests by ordering that the boy pay his victim pounds 500 compensation, which he suggested should be used to give her 'a good holiday' to help her recover from the playground sex attack. A month later, the boy was sentenced to two years' youth custody at a secure unit on Merseyside after the Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was 'unduly lenient'.

The girl, who lives a quarter of a mile from the rapist, has already been insulted and taunted by the boy's friends.

A police spokesman said her family were no longer living in Cwmbran and added: 'I cannot say where they have moved but they have been under tremendous pressure.'

The girl's father said: 'The victim isn't even considered . . . my daughter has been through hell.'