Two disturbed men who raped a 14-year-old boy in the toilets of Debenhams in Manchester have been jailed for 15 years.
Alex Wilson-Fletcher, 42, and former Iraqi intelligence officer, Abdelkader El-Janabi, 55 attacked the boy on a busy Saturday afternoon last summer.
The pair were caught following a nationwide hunt after police released CCTV images.
The young victim took an overdose of pills and alcohol in the wake of the rape and suffers panic attacks when visiting public toilets.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael Leeming QC said: “What you did to this boy will no doubt stay with him for the rest of his life. You never considered that at the time and were concerned only with your own gratification.”
Wilson-Fletcher, of Oldham Street, Manchester, and El-Janabi, of Artillery Court, Ardwick, Manchester have continued to deny attacking the boy after they were convicted of two counts of rape and two counts of sexual touching following a nine day trial at Manchester Crown Court.
The judge said the men had shown no sign of remorse or empathy over what they had done.
The boy was approached in the Arndale Centre toilets on June 2 last year and was forced by the two men to go to nearby Debenhams where he was raped.
He was told: “Come with us, you’re going to do anything we say and if you try to run away we will catch you.”
The boy tried to run away, but was caught after being cornered by the two men and he was led the toilets in Debehams.
El-Janabi physically raped the boy while Wilson-Fletcher looked and both were convicted of rape as part of a joint attack.
After the assault, the boy ran out of the department store and confided to a friend about his ordeal.
(Jailed: Wilson-Fletcher, left) Police were called after the boy’s mother found out about the incident.
Superintendent Stuart Ellison, of the North Manchester division, said: “This crime quite rightly shocked the city centre community as this vulnerable victim was marched across a busy part of the city during a Saturday afternoon.
“That a young boy could be preyed on while all around him shoppers go about their business
was doubly shocking.”
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