A DELIVERY driver who raped a girl of 12 in his car during his nightly rounds was yesterday jailed for four years.

Curtis Warren still denies having sex with the girl, despite being convicted after a Teesside Crown Court trial last month.

The court heard how a condom he used was found in the car park of an isolated pub in Bishop Auckland.

Police were taken to the spot by the girl after her mother heard what had happened last February and reported her concerns.

The youngster, said to have been besotted by 22-year-old Warren and a willing participant, did not complain about being raped.

Warren worked for a pizza shop in Bishop Auckland and carried out weekend deliveries throughout Wear Valley.

He had sex with the girl in his Vauxhall Corsa between February 12 and 15, last year, the court heard.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said the condom found in the car park of the Toronto Lodge Inn had his DNA inside.

Warren concocted a series of stories to explain the evidence, and said the girl was telling lies because he spurned her advances.

He was found guilty by a jury of one charge of rape, and was acquitted of three further rape charges and one of attempted rape.

He was also cleared of assault by penetration and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity – charges relating to the same girl.

Ian West, in mitigation, said: “She developed a crush on him and his offence is born out of his immature inability to resist the temptation put in front of him.”

Warren, of St Paul’s Close, Spennymoor, County Durham, was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely by Judge Tony Briggs.

He ruled against imposing a Sexual Offences Prevention Order after he heard submissions from Mr West that he was not a danger.

Mr West said: “Given he is now going to serve his first prison sentence, and it is likely to be an unpleasant one given the nature of the conviction and he is not going to be the most popular man on his block – that may well be sufficient to teach him the error of his ways.”