Two men sentenced at Mold Crown Court for trafficking and raping girls

Two men who took girls to hotel rooms and raped them have been sentenced 14 years’ imprisonment at Mold Crown Court.

John Delaney, 33, and John James Purcell, 31, were convicted of rape and trafficking the two girls who were in care at the time in order to sexually exploit them.

Delaney, from Wrexham, was convicted of three sex trafficking offences, two rapes and one sexual assault.

Purcell, who is from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was found guilty of four sex trafficking offences and two rapes.

At an earlier hearing the court heard that the two 15-year-old girls were picked up from a children’s home near Wrexham.

The men gave the two victims alcohol and encouraged them to drink.  Once they were drunk, the men raped them.

On some occasions the girls would be taken to a hotel room where other men would attend and also sexually abuse them.

Sandra Subacchi of the CPS said: “These men preyed on the vulnerability of these teenage girls, sometimes seeking them out and encouraging them to leave their care home to go with them.

“They deliberately manipulated the girls and used alcohol as a way of breaking their will, sometimes getting them so drunk that they were not able to stop the men from doing as they wished.

“The defendants treated these girls as property rather than people and used them as objects to fulfil their sexual desires.

“We hope the conclusion of the case will help the women to move forward with their lives.”

Each man was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment on 13 December 2018.