Boy, 15, raped his mother

A boy of 15 made legal history yesterday by becoming the first teenager to appear in court charged with raping his mother.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the attack on his 36-year-old parent.

She sat weeping feet from her son when he was brought into court.

The assault took place when the boy returned home to Swansea for a weekend visit from local authority care in Cornwall.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall said he could find no record of such a crime in legal history.

'This is without apparent or recent precedent,' he said.

The judge told the jury, which was sworn in for a trial when the youth changed his plea: 'This is a case of a young boy raping his mother.

'She no doubt finds this as stressful and bizarre as anyone else.'

The judge said he wanted every step taken to find an explanation. ' Psychiatrists, social workers and probation officers must resolve how to help.

'I am anxious to get to the root cause of this. Was it an episode with a background confined to the domestic circumstances or does this bode ill for the future?'

James Jenkins, prosecuting, said he wanted to make it clear that the mother did not complain because she wanted to see her son locked up.

'She is not interested in punishment. She is most anxious her son receives the best possible assistance,' he added.

The teenager's barrister, John Hipkin, told Swansea Crown Court it was one of the 'most difficult, sensitive and ultimately saddest cases that could be imagined'.

The boy will remain in care until he is sentenced next month after the judge considers expert reports.