Brave teenage rape victim confronts attacker and tells of torment inflicted by ex Leeds United player Stephen Scholes

Stephen Scholes, 55, was locked up at Leeds Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday) for four counts of rape of a woman aged 16 or over and four counts of assault by penetration. Scholes attacked the victim at an address in Leeds during a prolonged ordeal after he plied her with alcohol on a night out in January 2020.

Scholes denied the offences but was found guilty following a trial in January. Forensic evidence linking him to the crime was discovered and pictures taken during the ordeal were recovered after Scholes initially deleted them.

He was sentenced yesterday to 17 years imprisonment with a three-year extended licence and also placed the Sex Offenders Register.

During the hearing the victim read out a victim impact statement which the officer in the case, DS Craig Stevens, said reduced people in the viewing gallery to tears.

In the statement, the brave victim said: “I don't think any number of words could ever describe the amount of pain and trauma I’ve gone through. No time will ever make up for the nights I have spent crying myself to sleep or the days I have trapped myself inside from fear of the world around me.

“After I was raped, my life was completely ripped from me. From that moment onwards I have lived in a body that no longer feels mine; a body that traps me in a memory that I have to relive every day. A feeling of living in a life worse than death.

“I have suffered from depression and severe anxiety since. It has taken so many things away from me in life and still does to this day. I have suffered with not only my mental health but also physical health.”

She continued: “After the rape, I could not sleep for the fear of nightmares or him coming to get me again while I was asleep; him trying to seek some form of vengeance from me speaking out.”

The victim said that she “did not feel safe to be in my own home” after the rape and took time off work because “I did not feel safe to leave the house”. She said: “I thought everyone could tell what had happened to me, like it was written on my skin.

"I no longer trust anyone and spend my life fearing someone is going to hurt me. I have had to spend the time since building my trust back up slowly.

"In a world I use to feel safe in, I now no longer even feel safe sleeping alone at night.”

She added: “It has had a huge effect on my relationships. With people not wanting to be with me after finding out what happened because they 'don't want to be with someone that is broken and has been used'.”

The victim said that the incident had impacted the relationship with her current partner, saying: “He has had to pick up the pieces of a puzzle he did not break. Having to wake me up when I am having a nightmare and screaming in my sleep, carrying me from the bathroom to bed when I am having flashbacks.

"He has done this and so much more when he never should have had to. My friends have done the same. Taking me in and comforting me in my worst times, making me feel safe and getting me home when I feel so much fear from being outside.

"Not only did I suffer in this but, so did my family, my friends and my partner.

“I will never be able to un-live that moment but, instead, I live it over and over in my head every day. Still struggling from severe flash backs and days where I cannot leave my bed, never mind my house.

“I fear the thought of bringing my own children into this world.

“Since that day, I have never felt the same. Unable to remember what I liked or who I truly was. Having to relearn things I did and did not like, trying to remember the person I was but never will be again.

"I now live the life of a person who has been raped and will never be able to change the story that was written for me. I now have to live a life of pain and try to recover from a suffering I never asked to experience.”

Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lambert, who heads Leeds District Safeguarding Unit, said: “Scholes was responsible for a horrendous catalogue of abuse against this vulnerable young girl who he had plied with alcohol and lured back to the address on false pretences.

“His actions were an appalling breach of trust and understandably left the victim very badly traumatised.

“Despite the weight of evidence against him, he arrogantly chose to put the victim through the additional ordeal of a trial. We must recognise the courage she has shown throughout the investigation and the court process that has resulted in Scholes being convicted.

“We hope it will provide her with some degree of comfort to know that he has now been held accountable for his actions and has received a significant prison sentence.

“Scholes was brought to justice by the diligent work of specialist Safeguarding officers, supported by digital forensic experts, and we hope the successful outcome of this case will give victims of other similar offences the confidence to come forward and report them.”