A DRUNKEN 17-year-old who raped his disabled mother as she slept has been sent to detention for six years.

The teenager, from Oswaldtwistle, earlier claimed the woman, who is in her fifties, had consented and encouraged him to have sex with her. He had first pleaded guilty, changed his plea to not guilty and then finally owned up after his mother had faced the second ordeal of having to give evidence and be cross examined, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Sentencing the youth, Judge Ian Webster, former Honorary Recorder of Burnley, said in over 50 years at the bar and on the bench, he had never come across such a case before - and it was his earnest hope he never came across one again.

He told the defendant, who was 16 when he committed the offence last September, had condemned his mother to the shame and humiliation of having to go into the witness box.

The judge - who had earlier allowed the victim, said to have been depressed and suffering nervous problems since the attack, to give evidence from behind screens - said he acknowledged the fact the teenager was still only 17 and "terribly immature."

David Sumner, prosecuting, told the court the defendant had been a "perfectly ordinary child," up until the age of 13, but had then started to get into all sorts of trouble.

Last September the youth's mother had gone out to various pubs with her husband and then went home to bed. She went to sleep naked and after some time was awoken in pain. She turned on the light and turned to see her son, also naked, lying in bed behind her. She immediately phoned the police, the teenager ran from the house, but was found hiding not far away.

When the 17-year-old was interviewed, he said during the course of the evening, he had drunk three litres of cider and taken cannabis. He said he could not remember what happened, although he could remember other things about that night. He then alleged his mother had encouraged him to have sex with her.

Kathryn Johnson, defending, said the teenager had not helped himself in changing his plea and making his mother give evidence. He was a very young 17 and had not shown any maturity in the way he dealt with the offence. He knew he would be going to custody.

The defendant accepted full responsibility for the offence. He found it very difficult to talk about it but acknowledged what he did was wrong, his mother was in no way to blame and had played no part in it at all.

Miss Johnson said before the rape, the 17-year-old had been drinking and tried to give police the impression he was more drunk than he was. That was because he panicked when the full enormity of what he had done hit him.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.