A STREET cleaner who dragged a teenage girl into his car then raped her at his home has been convicted by a jury and is in custody awaiting sentence.

A crown court judge has called for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports on Jamie Elmer, 30, of Imperial Road, Gillingham.

He was found guilty at Canterbury Crown Court of kidnap, false imprisonment, attempted rape and assault by penetration in June last year.

The court heard that nine months earlier, Elmer had offered a 17-year-old girl a lift then repeatedly driven past her, frightening the girl so much the police were called. He later admitted a harassment charge.

Elmer had a previous conviction for inflicting grievous bodily harm and he was jailed for 18 months at Maidstone Crown Court.

Adjourning sentence, Judge Timothy Nash said the latest matters were serious specified offences and he had to consider the question of dangerousness. He said the offences demonstrated alarming behaviour towards innocent young girls in the street and set alarm bells ringing.

He warned the sentencing starting point if Elmer was considered dangerous may well be over 12 years less time served on remand adding: "One has to think of other young people walking innocently in Gillingham."

The jury heard the victim was delivering CVs in Gillingham when she spoke to Elmer in his car thinking he was asking for directions. He pulled her into the vehicle and drove her to his home where he subjected her to sexual attacks before dropping her back in Lock Street and telling her to meet him the next day or he would hunt her down.

The terrified girl fled Gillingham, catching a train to Ramsgate where she was given a bed for the night and was collected by the police the following day.

Elmer said the girl got into his car voluntarily and initiated things at his house by kissing him and everything that followed was with her consent.

He refuted prosecutor Tanya Robinson's suggestion when cross-examined that he was living out a fantasy of having his way with a girl he picked up off the street and wasn't troubled whether she actually wanted sex with him.

The court was told Elmer and his wife were undergoing IVF treatment and he admitted he had no need of condoms but when he had sex with the girl, he used a condom which he claimed he had picked up off the street, intending to play a joke on a workmate.

Police searching his car found more condoms and he again claimed they had been as a result of a joke played on him byworkmates.

After the verdicts, counsel for Elmer, Alex Rooke said there needed to be some detailed inquiry into the defendant's nature.

After discharging the jury, Judge Nash praised officer in the case DC Gordon Lindsay, saying he had handled the case correctly and deserved to be commended.

During the trial, Miss Robinson told the jury about the September 2006 matter saying the 17-year-old had been walking down Canterbury Street in Gillingham when she heard shouting and saw a silver Astra driven by a man in a flourescent jacket. He shouted: 'Hello sexy, hello darling, do you want a lift.'

She ignored him and he drove past then returned on the opposite side, staring at her.

Days later it happened again and the Astra drove past about seven times. She later saw it parked in Byron Road and ran past hoping not to be followed.

The same car passed her again on September 13 and she typed the registration into her phone and although it was later erased, she recalled most of it.

The driver slowed and asked: "Do you want a lift to the High Street". The frightened girl ignored him and walked on, but the same thing happened again.

The car stopped once and the driver got out and again offered her a lift. She crossed the road and it pulled away only to return on the opposite side.

Again the driver stared at her before driving away. She complained to her father.

Elmer made denials when arrested saying he didn't follow people and didn't drive round then stopping to talk to people. He later admitted pursuing a course of conduct amounting to harassment.