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Abbey Wood former bus driver Gavin Jones tried to rape teenage girl near Maidstone

A former bus driver who abducted a teenage girl and tried to rape her in his car has been jailed for seven years.

The attack happened eight years ago but the victim did not report it at the time because she feared Gavin Jones would carry out a threat to kill her.

Jones, then aged 28, gave the girl a lift in the Maidstone area in 2006.

Gavin Jones was sentenced to seven years in prison
Gavin Jones was sentenced to seven years in prison

But instead of taking her home he drove to a remote country spot.

“On any view this must have been a terrifying incident for your young victim, one which is liable to have caused her considerable psychological trauma" - Judge Griffith-Jones

When she asked what he was doing he replied he was going to scare her, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

He tried to kiss her and she attempted to get out of the car, only to find the doors were locked.

“She panicked,” said prosecutor Nicola Merrick. “He said if she kept struggling or made a sound he would knock her out. She was very frightened. She thought he might use a gun on her.”

He told her to take her trousers down and then tried to rape her. She wept, telling him she did not want to do it.

“She said she went blank,” said Miss Merrick. “She was not really aware of what was going on. When he stopped, he laughed...”

He told her there would be no evidence, adding that she was not to tell anybody.

“He said if she did, he would kill her,” said Miss Merrick. “When she got home she was very upset. She told a friend.

“Some time later she told a doctor she had been raped. She was referred for counselling. She eventually told her mother. The police were not told for eight years.”

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC
Judge David Griffith-Jones QC

The prosecution accepted Jones’ claim that he did not achieve full intercourse.

When arrested, Jones denied “in no uncertain terms” there was any sexual contact.

But when he appeared for trial on Tuesday he admitted attempted rape.

Jones, now 36, of Hinksey Path, Abbey Wood, south east London, had denied raping the girl as well as another charge of rape and one of sexual assault on two other alleged victims.

They were left on the court file.

The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court
The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC told him: “On any view this must have been a terrifying incident for your young victim, one which is liable to have caused her considerable psychological trauma.

“The victim was particularly vulnerable because of her age and you deployed a serious threat of violence in an attempt to force yourself upon her.”

The judge added Jones’ failure to rape the girl was “not for the want of trying”.

Jones’ name will appear on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and he will be banned from working with children.

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