A MAN has been jailed for six years and three months for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Slough.

Keegan Edwards was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday (August 18) by Judge Kirsty Real for two counts of assault by penetration and one count of rape.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of assault by penetration on the first day of his trial at the same court in April.

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A jury later found guilty of a further count of assault and one count of rape.

The court heard that the incidents happened in Slough on February 21, 2021, against a young girl who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Sentencing, Judge Real said: “It will remain with [the victim] for the rest of her life. There is nothing that this court can do to turn back the clock and change what occurred.”

Details of the case are that the victim was sitting on Edwards at the time when he began tickling her. The incidents then took place and the victim asked Edwards to stop.

Afterwards, Edwards travelled to Portsmouth where he threw away his phone which he told police he did out of ‘anger and sadness’.

The girl reported the incident to the police and Edwards was later arrested.

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He was interviewed for a total of one hour and 40 minutes where he first denied all the counts. He told police he was ‘disgusted’ by the allegations and ‘had no words’.

Edwards later completed a defence statement ahead of court proceedings where he alleges that what took place was consensual and ‘something she wanted to do’.

Text messages between the defendant and the girl were read in which the girl tells Edwards he has ‘f***** up’ her life and asks him to not to talk to her.

Edwards replied: “I’m literally going to kill myself. I’m sorry.”

The victim wrote a victim impact statement but chose not to have it read out in court.

Defending Edwards, of Redhill Drive in Bournemouth, his barrister said that the defendant is ‘remorseful’ for the offences.

She said: “There’s been an acknowledgement on his behalf that what he did was very bad.”

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His barrister added that he is about to be a first-time father and that custody means he will miss the birth and the first few months of his child’s life.

The mitigating factors Judge Real listed were his age, the fact he stopped when the victim asked, and the fact the incident was ‘short-lived’.