A TEENAGER has been found guilty of putting a man with mental difficulties through three "quite shocking" rapes.

The boy, just 13 at the time, was convicted of the sex ordeal on the 27-year-old man at Maidstone Crown Court and has been remanded in custody for sentence.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sobbed and clung to his mother as Mr Justice Henriques told him: "You must not take the fact that I have adjourned sentencing for reports as an indication that anything other than a custodial sentence will be passed.

"What you did to (the victim) was a series of quite shocking offences, for which you will be punished in due course."

During the trial the jury was told the teenager took the victim to his own bedroom and raped him twice. He later took the man to some woods and raped him again.

David Jeremy, prosecuting, told the jury of six men and six women that they could be forgiven for thinking, bearing in mind the victim’s age, that what he had told them was "close to incredible".

Mr Jeremy said the victim, who lived in a community care house in Strood, suffered from a psychiatric disorder, social difficulties and had a low IQ. He lacked social awareness and understanding and was highly suggestible.

On June 6 last year, he bumped into the boy, who was with a friend of the same age, outside a Strood supermarket.

That afternoon, the two boys took the man to his home to steal "whatever they could get their hands on". They ripped a telephone coin box from the wall and later smashed it in an alley to get the cash.

At the home, the boy took the man to his bedroom and committed rape, said Mr Jeremy. Afterwards, the boy told the man to perform oral sex on him. He told the man not to tell his friend what happened or he would kill him.

Mr Jeremy said the boy later took the man to woods near the Great Lines and told him to give him oral sex again. Matters came to an end when the boy told the man to steal from the Co-op in Luton Road. The man went in and asked for help.

In his evidence to the court, given by TV link, the victim said he had met the boys previously and recognised them when he saw them in Strood. All three of them went to the community care house where he lived.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he did not resist the boy because he was "frightened he would kill me".

When initially confronted with the allegations, the youngster denied any sexual contact between himself and the victim but he changed his story admitting the pair had consensual sex just before the trial began.

In his evidence the teenager told the jury he and the victim both knew sex was going to happen.

When cross-examined the teenager said: "The interview I gave is all lies, I lied because my mum was there and I was embarrassed."

Sentencing is due to take place in London on February 18.