A traveller who raped two teenage girls from travelling community has been sentenced to an extended 18 year prison sentence.
On Friday, January 15, 2021, a court heard Barry Price, married and in his his mid 20s befriended the girls on social media sites making out he was a teenager himself.
On two separate occasions he persuaded each girl to meet him, but once they had got in his car they were subjected to a harrowing rape ordeal from which they couldn’t escape.
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On Friday before Price was sentenced, a court heard that one of his victims who was 16 and a virgin when Smith raped her three times over three days while his prisoner, has now been shunned by her own family.
And because she lost her virginity to another male from the traveller community, the girl said in her victim impact statement, that travelling culture now means she will find it “well nigh impossible” to marry anyone within the community.
Price’s other victim was a 15-year-old girl.
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He appeared at Luton Crown Court on Friday, January 15, after being found guilty by a jury last October of three charges of raping the 16-year-old girl, three offences of sexually assaulting her and one offence of falsely imprisoning her.
In relation to her he pleaded guilty to having an article with a blade or point.
He also fell to be sentenced on the same day, having been convicted of raping the 15-year-old girl and falsely imprisoning her.
Price also admitted a charging of having a bladed article in connection with the offences against her.
He was sentenced to an extended 18 year prison sentence by Recorder James Wood QC.
He was told the custodial element of the sentence was to be 14 years with an extended period when he oiled subject to a recall on licence, should he re offend
Of the 14 year jail sentence Price was told he would have to serve a minimum of two thirds before he could even be considered for release by the parole board.
When ever he is released the extended sentence means that he will be on licence and subject to recall until 2039.
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It was in October 2019 that Price of St James Close, Houghton Regis, in Bedfordshire arranged to meet a 16-year-old girl from South West Hertfordshire who lived with her traveller family.
They had been speaking via social media and Price made out he was 19-years-old.
The girl agreed to meet him and Price turned up behind the wheel of a Ford Mondeo
Once in his company the court was told she was plied with cannabis and alcohol.
Between 0ctober 20 and October 27 Price who had with him a machete raped her for the first time in the back of the car parked in a field and he sexually assaulted her at a flat.
After driving her to a chalet in Gamlingay in Bedfordshire he raped on two more occasions and forced her to indulge in sexual activity.
The next day he dropped her off at Sandy railway station to make her own way home, said Mr Matthew. He told her: “Good luck getting home”.
On November 7, 2019, Price met a 15-year-old girl from the Midlands who again believed he was the 17-year-old boy she had chatted to on Facebook.
He took her to the same property in Gamlingay, where he also put her phone on ‘airplane mode’ and subjected her to sexual assault and rape.
When she tried to leave, he threatened her and destroyed her mobile phone.
At court on Friday, January 15, he was sentenced to serve 14 years in jail, with an extension of four years to reflect the dangerous nature of his offending.
He was also served with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and an indefinite restraining order not to contact his victims.
Mr Recorder James Wood QC good Price: “You have shown not a jot of remorse.”
He described Price as callous and said he had no doubt he planned the rapes, showing a self-entitlement to sexually abuse his victims.
He also said that Price was a high risk to children and young adults, as well as prison staff and members of the public.
Of the 14 year jail sentence Price was told he would have to serve a minimum of two thirds before he could even be considered for release by the parole board.
When ever he is released the extended sentence means that he will be on licence and subject to recall until 2039.
Praising the two young girls for their courage in coming forward, he told Price: “The memory of what you did to them will live with them forever.”
Detective Sergeant Clare Gilbert, of Bedfordshire Police’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team, who led this investigation, said: “I am satisfied to see that Price will now be incarcerated for such a significant time after committing these heinous sexual offences, by deliberately hiding his true identity on social media for the purpose of gaining access to young girls.
“The fact that Price has been jailed for this length of time reflects the severity of his offending and the trauma and anguish he inflicted on his victims.
“Seeing this length of sentence handed down drives us to do the work we do, and will continue to do, every single day to protect the public.
“It wasn’t easy for the girls to report what he did to them, and I want to thank them again for their strength in coming forward, which has been truly inspirational. Hopefully seeing Price locked up will allow them to begin their journeys to recovery.
“Anyone who commits rape or sexual offences must expect to face the considerable consequences of their actions.”
