‘Arrogant’ ex-Leeds United player who raped girl, 17, and took pictures of attack on his phone is jailed for 17 years

AN EX-Leeds United player has been jailed for 17 years after raping a 17-year-old girl and taking pictures on his phone.

Stephen Scholes, 55, of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court yesterday after a “depraved” attack.

GettyAn ex-Leeds United player was jailed for 17 years after raping a teenage girl[/caption]

Stephen Scholes was jailed for 17 years after the horror attack

The “arrogant” former footballer was found guilty of four counts of rape of a woman aged 16 or over and four counts of assault by penetration.

All eight offences happened in the early hours of January 25, 2020, a court heard.

Scholes claims he used to play for Leeds United in the 1980s.

Prosecutor Robert Stevenson said that Scholes lived in Tenerife at the time but was staying at a property in Leeds, when he took the victim out and “plied her with alcohol”.

She became “very intoxicated” and “felt sick and disorientated” before sick Scholes took her back to the property where “he told her that the night was not yet over”.

He then climbed into bed with the victim and began taking her clothes off and touching her inappropriately.

Mr Stevenson said: “She was aware of what was going on but felt helpless and unresponsive, unable to move due to being under the influence of something.”

Scholes went on to rape the woman, despite her “shouting for him to stop”.

The court also heard how he took pictures on his phone as he was raping the victim.

After the first attack, Scholes put the victim in another room and later returned before raping her a second time.

The victim called the police the next day and gave three interviews, during which she said that she had been left “ashamed”.

Scholes’s semen was found from the forensic examination of the victim, who was in pain for days after the attack.

The ex-Leeds star denied the offences and claimed that the victim “forced herself onto him”.

Scholes deleted the images he had taken from his phone but these were later recovered.

Mr Recorder S. Jackson KC sentenced Scholes to 17 years in custody plus three years on an extended licence and placed him on the sex offenders register.

‘ARROGANT’

DS Craig Stevens said that after he arrested Scholes, the defendant noticed that he was wearing a Leeds United lanyard and told him he used to play for the club decades ago.

He said: “He made a big play of it. The sentence is brilliant and reflects how bad the offence was.

“He was so arrogant. He thought he was never going to be found guilty.

“It’s been a long, hard road for the victim. I can’t emphasise enough how brave she’s been since that depraved attack.

“She’s fronted him up in court and did everything I asked of her. He would not have got that sentence if it wasn’t for her.”

Following the sentence, the officer in the case, DS Craig Stevens, said that an impact statement read out by the victim had left cops in the gallery “in tears”.

He said: “I have been a police officer for 20 years and it’s probably the most impactful statement I have ever heard.”