A MAN who kidnapped and raped a schoolgirl in a wood was a serial sex offender who had earlier the same day tried to abduct another young girl, it was alleged yesterday.
David Scott Edgerton, 22, had also raped a woman in Warrington and attempted to rape a woman on Deeside previously, John Philpotts, prosecuting, claimed.
A jury of eight women and four men at Mold Crown Court was told Edgerton had admitted abducting a teenage schoolgirl and raping her in the village of Leeswood, near Mold, on August 22 last year.
But he had denied attempted abduction of another schoolgirl earlier the same day, raping a woman in her 40s in Warrington on August 12 last year and attempting to rape a 20-year-old woman at her home in Connah’s Quay in June, 2009.
Opening the prosecution case, Mr Philpotts said the first allegation involved a woman who was woken from her sleep by a man apparently kneeling by her bed.
He climbed on top of her and told her to take down her pyjama bottoms.
He put his hand on her throat saying “Do this or I will kill you,” it was alleged.
Mr Philpotts said the jury may well conclude she was a courageous young woman.
She did not do as she was asked but told him to take whatever property he wanted.
He told her he was not interested in her property. She gave him the opportunity to leave, saying she would not tell anyone what had happened if he left, but he declined that opportunity.
“He said he did not want to kill her. He did not want property. He did not want to kill her, because what he wanted was sex,” Mr Philpotts alleged.
The young woman bought herself some time by pretending to go along with it and said “just give me five minutes” but there was then a struggle as she tried to reach for her mobile phone.
She then screamed for her father and that was enough to make him flee, said Mr Philpotts.
The woman said she was 95 per cent sure it was Edgerton, but Mr Philpotts said the jury could be sure it was the defendant.
Arrested, Edgerton denied he had been at the house and said after drinking he went to his ex-girlfriend’s home, then slept rough under a bush and then in an outbuilding at his mother’s home.
The prosecution said in August last year Edgerton had been drinking with a woman in her 40s from Warrington, returned to her home where they had consensual sex.
But it was the prosecution case events took a worrying turn because later he put his hands around her throat and said he could kill her, it was claimed.
She was pinned down and she told him to stop, but he then had intercourse with her again. “He forced himself on her that second time and the prosecution say it was rape,” he told the jury. Edgerton claimed it was with consent.
Twelve days later he was in Leeswood where he approached a schoolgirl, asked her if she knew where a particular man lived and whether she knew where the Prince of Wales pub was? She replied she did and he asked her to show him but she refused.
“It was at that point the defendant began to approach her with his arm out in a way she found menacing,” he said.
“At that time, and by good fortune, a male friend appeared and the defendant left the scene.”
It was the prosecution case he attempted to abduct her “because about an hour later that is exactly what happened to another young girl,” Mr Philpotts said.
“She had the terrible misfortune to encounter the defendant in a fish and chip shop.
He asked her to show him the way to the Prince of Wales pub and unfortunately for her she agreed. That act of kindness led to her abduction and rape in woods by the defendant.
“You can be sure of those matters because the defendant has pleaded guilty to them,” he told the jury.
It was the prosecution case the other schoolgirl had been his original target.
She would have been his victim if her friend had not arrived when he did, alleged Mr Philpotts.
The trial, before Judge Merfyn Hughes QC, is proceeding.