Former Stoke-on-Trent councillor guilty of raping girl

Randolph Conteh had been a city councillor for 19 years in Stoke-on-Trent before resigning in 2021

A former Stoke-on-Trent city councillor has been found guilty of raping a girl.

During his trial, Randolph Conteh, of Weston Coyney in the city, had denied raping a girl under the age of 16 between 1995 and 1997.

He was charged after the matter was reported to police in 2020. He is to be sentenced on 15 July.

The 63-year-old resigned as a councillor in May 2021 after 19 years on the local authority, during which time he served as a cabinet member.

Summing up at Derby Crown Court, prosecutor Jonathan Dickinson told the jury the case came down to which of the two main witnesses was telling the truth.

"They both can't be. One of them is pulling the wool over your eyes," he said.

He reminded the jury that on the day the victim said she was raped, she maintained Conteh had told her: "I want to be with you tonight."

Mr Dickinson added she told a family member of her ordeal not long after, which, he said, showed it was not a "wild allegation dreamt up in 2019".

That was the year, the court heard, she contacted Conteh in alarm as she found out he was a councillor, with his position bringing him into contact with children.

'Perverted lust'

In his defence, his counsel Cheryl Mottram had said: "Mr Conteh doesn't have and never has had a perverted lust for schoolgirls."

She told the court: "We are dealing with a case 25 years ago. Memories fade, recollections change."

But the jury backed the victim's account, and convicted the former councillor, who served as an independent.

Det Con Rochelle Till from Staffordshire Police praised the victim for her "strength and courage" in reporting the crime and throughout the investigation and trial.