A “TRUSTED family friend” is beginning a five-year jail term today after being found guilty of luring a 19-year-old girl down a dark alleyway and brutally raping her.

A “TRUSTED family friend” is beginning a five-year jail term today after being found guilty of luring a 19-year-old girl down a dark alleyway and brutally raping her.

A jury took just under three hours to convict Kenneth Crossfield, 35, of London Road, Ipswich, of rape yesterday.

The three-day trial at Bury St Edmunds Crown Court had heard that the girl, now 20, was forced to bend over while Crossfield raped her and tried to make her perform oral sex on him, before telling her “don't tell your mum and dad”.

She told the court how she had been out for a meal at an Italian restaurant in Ipswich with a group of friends who were celebrating a hen night, before going on to the town's Fire and Ice nightclub.

It was here she had met Crossfield, who she said she had known since she was little and who at one time had been a frequent visitor to her home.

She said she had merely said hello to him at the club, spending the rest of the evening dancing with girl friends.

At around 3am, the victim said one of her friends had been talking to Crossfield's brother outside the club and Crossfield had approached her.

Steven Dyble, prosecuting, said Crossfield had asked the girl if she would go for a walk with him, saying he wanted to have a little chat with her.

The girl said she had not found this odd as he was a family friend and was not worried when he put his arm around her and walked her into an alley beside a car park.

It was here, she said, he turned on her and she was so shocked and frightened she did not cry out.

Following his arrest, Crossfield told police the girl had consented to sex, the court heard. However, the jury was not convinced by claims from his defence team that the victim had indicated she was “up for it” in the minutes before the attack.