Predator jailed 16 years for raping unconscious 14-year-old

14-year-old schoolgirl woke gagged and violated by predator who targeted her while unconscious after she was lured to a Birmingham house and supplied with alcohol and cannabis.

A 31-year-old Birmingham man has been jailed for 16 years with an extended six-year licence after being convicted of three counts of rape at Birmingham Crown Court.

Rhyce Longstaff, of Haydock Close, Hodge Hill, was sentenced on Friday, March 6.

Judge Andrew Smith KC imposed the extended sentence after a jury found Longstaff guilty following a trial.

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The offences occurred in the early hours of October 11, 2024, at a property in Sutton Street, Aston.

The court heard that Longstaff invited the 14-year-old girl and her friends from Birmingham city centre to the address.

There she consumed alcohol and cannabis before passing out in an upstairs bedroom.

Judge Smith told Longstaff: “You must have either followed her or gone looking for her and found her in a very vulnerable, unconscious state.

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“Her vulnerability was increased by being uncertain as to where she was and being among a number of older male strangers.

“The terror she must have felt to wake and find you raping her cannot be adequately described.

“Your reaction to her waking was to put a hand across her mouth to silence any response, including her crying, and to tell her not to tell anyone as she would not be believed.”

The girl passed out again and Longstaff returned to the bedroom where he raped her on two further occasions, the court heard.

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He then left the house taking her phone with him.

The device was co-located with Longstaff’s own phone on two occasions in the hours that followed, although it was never recovered.

Longstaff has previous convictions including robbery, affray and threatening someone with a knife.

The judge branded him a dangerous criminal and identified no mitigation of note in his favour.

In particular, he had demonstrated no remorse.

Defence counsel Justin Hugheston-Roberts asked the judge to step back from a possible life sentence and to pass a punishment that was as lenient as possible in line with his public duty.

Longstaff attended the hearing via video link from HMP Birmingham.