Man denies ever meeting three Sheffield girls he is accused of raping

Giving evidence at Sheffield Crown Court today, Christopher Whiteley, 23, of Weakland Crescent, Hackenthorpe told the court he has ‘never forced anyone to do anything’ they did not want to.

Whiteley is charged with a number of offences, including nine counts of rape against three victims, and one count of sexual assault against another.

He told the court he believed all four of the complainants had lied when making the allegations against him; and said he could only remember ever meeting one of them - Girl D - who the Crown allege he raped four times.

The complainants were aged between 12 and 16 at the time of the alleged offences.

Whiteley was aged 13 at the time of the first alleged offence, and was 16-years-old at the time of the final one.

“I have never once done anything like that,” said Whiteley, adding: “People who do things like that are disgusting.”

It is alleged that Whiteley met all four victims either at, or through people he spent time with at Castle Markets in Sheffield City Centre, where he would go when he was truanting from school from 2007 onwards.

Whiteley, who told prosecutor Peter Hampton he considered himself to be ‘charming,’ is alleged to have met a fifth victim - Girl C - through the city’s youth offending services.

He admits to having a sexual relationship with Girl C, but denies a string of allegations made by the girl, including the claim he pimped her out with his brothers Shane Whiteley, 30, and Matthew Whiteley, 24, both of Weakland Crescent, Hackenthorpe and his best friend Andres Edge, 25 of Wheatley Road, Parson Cross to around 30 men in the space of five weeks in 2009.

“I have never once done anything like that,” Whiteley told the court.

It is also alleged that one of the three girls Whiteley is accused of raping - Girl B - was also sold to him by Amanda Spencer of Canklow Road, Rotherham.

Not only does Whiteley deny ever paying for sex through Spencer, but he also told the court that he would have tried to ‘stop’ the 25-year-old from committing the child prostitution offences she has previously been convicted of, and is currently facing in this trial, had he been aware of them.

The court heard how Whiteley was convicted of two sexual assaults when he was 13-years-old, committed months before the first alleged offence in this trial.

Under cross-examination, Whiteley referred to the offences as both being a 'mistake' and a bit of 'messing around'.

Mr Hampton told Whiteley it was getting into trouble for sexual offences carried out against adults, that made him turn to girls his own age.

He said: "You realised that touching adult women in the street and sexually assaulting them got you into trouble, and that's why shortly after these offences you turned your attention to girls your own age or younger."

Whiteley responded by saying 'no'.

Mr Hampton continued: "Because they are less likely to complain, they are more scared, they are easier to intimidate."

Whiteley is one of six defendants on trial for 42 offences carried out against nine alleged victims in Sheffield between 2005 and 2012.

The defendants deny all charges.

The trial continues.