JACOB YOUNG AND SHOCKING CRIMES IN IPSWICH
In a recent court hearing, 18-year-old Jacob Young was sentenced after being convicted of multiple serious offenses in Ipswich.Judge Martyn Levett described Young as a "clever manipulator and a good story teller," emphasizing that he posed a significant danger to the public.
The judge also pointed out that the jury had seen through Young's lies throughout the trial.
Evidence presented during the case revealed that Young had conducted internet searches for content such as "sexy girls wearing shorts" and "upskirting" images of girls in the months leading up to the assault.
These searches indicated that he had been engaging in unhealthy and disturbing sexual fantasies while maintaining a facade of being an innocent 17-year-old.
The judge highlighted this as a sign of his manipulative nature.
Further context was provided through a letter from Young's mother, which described the impact of the family’s appearance on the television show "Supernanny" with celebrity nanny Jo Frost.
She explained that this exposure had led to a campaign of bullying and abuse from peers, including school friends, which contributed to Young’s troubled behavior.
On the evening of the attack, Young, who identified as a committed Christian, attended a youth meeting at a church in Ipswich.
He resides on Beechcroft Road in Ipswich.
Despite his religious commitments, Young was convicted last month by a jury of charges including rape, assault causing actual bodily harm, and theft.
The court sentenced him to ten years of detention in a young offenders' institution, with an extended license period of five additional years.
Additionally, Judge Levett imposed a ban on Young contacting the victim for ten years and ordered him to register as a sex offender indefinitely.
The victim, a woman in her 20s, was intoxicated at the time and had left the Unit 17 nightclub in Cardinal Park with her boyfriend on October 13 of the previous year.
As they walked through Ipswich town center, CCTV footage showed Young following them through an archway toward her flat.
During this time, her boyfriend left her handbag at the front door while assisting her into the flat.
When he returned shortly afterward, he discovered the handbag was missing, and CCTV footage captured Young with the stolen item.
Subsequently, the boyfriend left to return to work, and Young knocked on the victim’s door.
Inside her flat, he committed the rape.
The woman testified that she was drunk and had limited memory of the incident but recalled being pushed against a wall, pushed onto her bed with Young’s hands around her neck, and her attempts to get him off her.
She also remembered telling him she would do whatever he wanted if he let her go to the toilet, after which she ran down the stairs and escaped.
Prior to the assault, Young had been observed hiding in bushes near McDonald's in Cardinal Park, taking photographs of women in revealing clothing.
Prosecutor Jane Oldfield described him as a "sexual predator." CCTV footage also showed Young walking around Ipswich town center and repeatedly changing direction on Silent Street to follow women.
The jury was informed that Young had a previous conviction at age 14, when he followed a 12-year-old schoolgirl into an alleyway and threatened her with a knife.
Following the sentencing, Suffolk police officer Sgt Rory Prior from the safeguarding unit expressed his relief at seeing Young incarcerated.
He acknowledged the victim’s bravery in testifying and emphasized that no prison sentence could fully compensate for her trauma.
Sgt Prior also noted that investigators used various tools to dismantle Young’s web of lies, ultimately removing a genuine threat to the community from Ipswich.
