Six years in prison for rapist who plotted to find a victim (From Southend Standard)

Six years in prison for rapist who plotted to find a victim

1:00pm Saturday 15th September 2012 in Echo News

Pizzey

A MAN who raped a teenage girl as she walked home from a night out admitted he would have struck again if police had not caught him when they did.

The shocking revelation came as 23-year-old Curtis Pizzey, of Barnard Close, Vange, was jailed for six years after admitting the crime when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Sick Pizzey, 23, even returned to the scene of the rape – three weeks after the attack – as it gave him “sexual pleasure”.

The court heard he had an unhealthy interest in “forced and violent sexual encounters”.

The court heard he had planned to carry out a rape, parking at Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park in the weeks leading up to the attack to survey the area and potential victims. After admitting to the rape earlier this summer, Pizzey told probation officers – who were preparing a pre-sentence report – that he would have carried out another rape if police had not caught him when they did.

Prosecuting, Richard Scott told the court: “In the pre-sentence report it is clear there was considerable pre-planning for this offence, and the defendant admitted, had he not been caught, he was anticipating carrying out a similar act again.

“This was a pre-planned rape and on this occasion he had sufficient bravado to carry out the incident, having not had sufficient courage in the past.

“He admitted he planned to carry out a further rape of this sort in the underpass.”

The court heard Pizzey’s 18-year-old victim had enjoyed a night out with her pals at Envy nightclub, in Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park, on Sunday, May 14.

When her friends went to McDonald’s at about 2.30am, the young woman decided to walk home and headed to the underpass, which runs beneath Cranes Farm Road, towards Ghyllgrove.

While she was on her mobile, the girl did not notice Pizzey walk past her to the underpass, where he lay in wait. As the girl walked through the underpass, Pizzey pretended to walk in the opposite direction and, as he passed the teen, grabbed her from behind.

He forced the girl to walk to a nearby muddy, wooded area where he carried out the horrific attack before fleeing.

The distraught girl called her friends, who found her lying on the ground crying uncontrollably. They walked the girl home where they convinced her to report the attack to police.

The court heard detectives left no stone unturned in their hunt for Pizzey.

They trawled through a month’s worth of CCTV footage from cameras near the underpass and at Festival Leisure Park, where they spotted Pizzey regularly parked up.

A condom packet found by officers – discarded by Pizzey who had worn protection so he left no forensic trace – also gave them a full DNA profile of the rapist.

Sentencing Pizzey, Judge Jonathan Black gave him six years. Upon his release, Pizzey will also have to remain on licence for another six years and has been put on the Sex Offenders’ register for life.

It was previously reported Curtis Pizzey suffered from mental health problems. The Echo would like to point out that this is not the case.