A REDDITCH schoolboy who raped a fellow pupil and carried out a sex attack on another girl has been sentenced at Worcester Crown Court to three years detention.

The boy, who is 16 and cannot be named for legal reasons, also has to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

The attacks took place when he was 15 and he was convicted last month after a seven-day trial.

The jury heard he forced one girl to perform a sex act on him in bushes near a Redditch school. This constitutes rape under new laws.

A few weeks before, he had lured another 15 year old to his home where he tore off her bra and committed a sexual assault.

James Wood, defending, said the boy came from a close-knit and respectable family and the offence was completely out of character.

He had been punished by missing his last year at school and being unable to take important exams.

He had no previous convictions and had undertaken voluntary work at a local cricket club where he played.

But Judge John Cavell said despite the boy's "glowing background" it was a pity he could not bring himself to admit what he had done.

At the trial, he had said the girls had lied and made up what had happened. But the jury, by their verdicts, had been sure he had committed the offences.