Gainsborough teenager detained for raping five-year-old boy
A 15-year-old has been detained for six years after raping two young boys - one of whom was just five.
Lincoln Crown Court heard the boys were abused after being allowed to play with the older boy.
The teenager, from Gainsborough, was found guilty of three rape charges and three of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The judge said he had to detain the boy because of the persistence of the offences.
Judge Michael Heath told the teenager: "These were serious criminal offences committed against these two much younger boys for your sexual gratification.
"I cannot avoid custody given the serious nature of these offences and their persistence."
Four of the offences happened between April 2008 and September 2010 and two happened in January last year.
The court heard that one of the victims was five years old when he was raped.
The other was first abused when he was seven and was subsequently repeatedly raped.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was placed on the sex offenders register for life.
He had denied the offences happened and claimed the complaints against him were fabricated, but was convicted after a trial earlier this year.
Catarina Sjolin, defending, said the teenager had never been in trouble before and had experienced various difficulties in his family life.
"He is a young boy of positive good character," she said.
"He is a very naive and vulnerable boy who will struggle in any custodial setting."