A vile rapist who attacked a teenager in a remote location after riding away with her on the back of his motorbike has been locked up for almost 13 years.

Lee Mason let the teenager sit on his motorbike for some photographs following a night out in Middlesbrough before speeding away from her friends and safety.

The 27-year-old took the terrified teenager to a remote location where he carried out two sexual assaults before riding off to an even more remote location where he subjected his young victim to a traumatic rape.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the victim’s mother had been alerted to what happened and rushed to Middlesbrough in a desperate attempt to find her daughter.

Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting, said the teenager’s horrific physical ordeal only came to an end when Mason dropped her off near one of her friend’s homes and she managed to call the police.

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The judge heard how the attack had a devastating impact on the teenager and she had been given a sexually transmitted infection from her attacker.

In a heart-breaking victim impact statement, the woman said the mere sound of a motorbike leaves her terrified and her life has been destroyed by the lasting psychological damage caused by her rape.

“Ever since you raped me, I have never been able to feel the same again. I now have trouble closing my eyes because all that I see is your face and have been prescribed sleeping tablets.

“I now have panic attacks when I hear noises in the night, I worry that it is you,” she said.

“What you did is constantly replayed over and over in my mind. Whenever I hear or see a motorbike, I think it is you and I panic.”

The victim’s mother also made a personal impact statement to relay to the court the horrendous suffering her daughter had endured.

She said: “I was sent a photograph of my daughter on the back of your motorbike that I was able to show the police, the photograph horrified me and to this day fills me with anger about what you have done.

“Saddens me that she looked so happy in the picture not knowing what was to come. It’s the last picture of my daughter before you, a grown man, a predator, destroyed our lives and put us through hell.”

Miss Wadoodi said the quick thinking of the investigating officer resulted in vital CCTV and photographic evidence being seized, resulting in Mason’s speedy arrest.

The Northern Echo: Lee MasonLee Mason (Image: Cleveland Police)

Mason, of Hartington Road, Stockton, pleaded guilty to rape, assault by penetration, and sexual assault, following the attack on April 24 this year.

Victoria Lamballe, in mitigation, said her client now fully accepts being responsible for everything that his teenage victim told police.

She added: “He recognises, as he must, that this was a truly terrifying attack on this young woman.”

Judge Howard Crowson sentenced the father-of-two to a total of 12 years and nine months in prison.

“The effect on her continues, it was dreadful at the time and it continues now. For periods she has been unable to eat or sleep properly or go to work,” he said.

“These offences represent a series of sexual assaults on a young woman by a stranger. It has left her with the all too common feeling of self-loathing, while she has no reason to feel anything bad about herself.”

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