A teenager who was jailed for sexually assaulting his girlfriend while they were both in care raped her "multiple times" in the two months before he was arrested, a report from Warwickshire Safeguarding has revealed. 

The 17-year-old was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison in January 2022 after his victim recorded the attack on her phone.

A 'child safeguarding practice review' published this month revealed the incident - which took place in supported accommodation - was one in a number of attacks while both were 'looked after children' in Warwickshire.

The boy - who pleaded guilty to rape and was placed on the sex offenders register - said to police when he was arrested that he had raped the girl multiple times.

One incident saw him put a knife to her throat, and on other occasions he threatened to harm her family.

He was arrested after the girl sent the video of the incident to her mother. The video was shown in court but he did not "show any remorse at the point of arrest or subsequently".

Identified in the report only as 'Ryan' and 'Emily', the teenagers had been in a relationship for 12 months prior to the incident, with multiple agencies working with them and aware of "long-standing concerns that the relationship was abusive".

Despite Emily telling her social worker she knew the relationship was not healthy, she was "equivocal about breaking free from it" and did not want to engage with Refuge or other services.

Some 177 investigations were made by police in a four-year period involving Ryan, either as a victim, suspect or involved party.

Offences included violence, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage, child protection incidents (these would include his numerous missing episodes) and domestic abuse investigations. 

"The relationship between Emily and Ryan was abusive and controlling," the report said. 

"While there are isolated incidents of Emily retaliating, the overwhelming evidence is of him perpetrating verbal and physical violence towards her resulting in bruising and scratching, attempted strangulation and threats of harm with knives and other objects coupled with coercive control."

Emily - who had been fostered for six months before returning to council accommodation - was given additional support from staff after the abuse was revealed.

The report revealed Ryan's family had an "extensive history of agency involvement" due to concerns regarding domestic violence, exclusions from school for the children, "parenting capacity, physical and emotional harm, children's behaviours, child exploitation, drug and alcohol misuse by the children, family dysfunction and anti‐social behaviour".

He was first introduced to children's services aged 12 after a criminal damage incident, and then in 2020 he was put under a child protection plan with his sister because both were exposed to "violence, physical abuse, drug misuse and criminal activity".

It is said the threat of being arrested was not a deterrent for him, and he continued to present behavioural issues throughout his placements in care.

He also did not deny the offences "neither did he show any remorse at the point of arrest or subsequently".

The first referral to the domestic abuse support team was made in February 2021, followed by an incident in the April where Emily had a bruised eye and Ryan had held a pair of scissors to her throat. 

This incident was assessed as "high risk" but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was not enough evidence to charge the boy.

The report explained: "The failure to prosecute Ryan at this time may also have unintentionally reinforced his power and control over Emily as the failure to prosecute could also be interpreted (albeit wrongly) as professionals being unable to protect her."

Ryan continued to try and control who Emily saw, and threatened her not to talk to the police.

Eventually it was agreed she would leave Warwickshire, although she declined offers of support from the Domestic Abuse Support Team or Youth Justice Team.

The report added: "Emily also clearly felt very strongly about Ryan; school staff had described this as Emily being 'obsessed' with Ryan even though they thought she was constantly manipulated by him which often resulted in her being placed in dangerous situations."

She also presented issues for council services and was reported missing 13 times in the first month she was fostered.

In all, there were 118 missing episodes recorded for her during the period leading up to the incident.

But ultimately the report concluded that the decision not to prosecute Ryan earlier on meant abuse towards Emily continued.

"An unintended consequence of this approach was that Ryan may have believed that he had immunity from prosecution; seemingly there were no consequences to his breaching bail conditions and the damage to property in his accommodation only had minor sanctions which did not impact on his behaviour," it said.

"There is no easy answer to this dilemma; ultimately the primary aim of avoiding criminalising Ryan meant that the cost of dealing with his behaviour was borne by the Local Authority and accommodation provider."

Warwickshire County Council was approached for comment.