A Folkestone teenager will celebrate his 19th birthday behind bars after raping a 12-year-old girl.

William Otto admitted the offence against the youngster, who had a "schoolgirl" crush on him, and twice having sex with her.

He was trapped after revealing what he had done on the social media site Facebook.

Canterbury Crown Court heard posts were spotted by the victim's older sister – who realised sex had taken place.

Prosecutor Jim Harvey said: "She had come across a laptop computer used by the 12-year-old where there were Facebook entries which made it quite clear."

Despite admitting his crimes, Otto - who said he feared being branded a nonce by friends - pleaded by text message with the sister to keep his rapes a secret. She contacted police immediately.

Otto, 18, of Ilex Road, pleaded guilty to two charges of statutory rape and was given a 14-month sentence in a young offenders' institution. He will also be on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

The court heard Otto admitted to police the sex – which happened once near allotments – was wrong "given their age difference".

But the teenager said he had not appreciated what he was doing was against the law, the court heard.

And he admitted keeping the attacks a secret from his friends for fear he would be branded "a nonce".

Otto spent eight days in a London hospital in April after being attacked near the Tesco store in Cheriton.

The incident was unrelated to the rape. His attacker - 18-year-old Aaron McKie - was given an eight-year sentence, including an immediate five-year jail term and a three-year extended licence.

"You hadn't told your friends what you had done because you feared they would call you a nonce – that tells me that you knew what you were doing was wrong..." - Judge Adele Williams

Simon Taylor, defending, said: "He is a very immature man for his age. But the attack he faced has had a marked change in his life.

"The attack caused him very serious injuries indeed and there was a time when his life was in the balance.

"His attitude changed and it led to these offences which are out of character."

Judge Adele Williams told Otto: "This was statutory rape on a 12-year-old. You knew that it was wrong and you hadn't told your friends what you had done because you feared they would call you a nonce – that tells me that you knew what you were doing was wrong. Although you have since shown genuine remorse.

"The real mischief in what you did was that 12 year olds are quite unready both physically and emotionally to have sexual intercourse and the law protects them from this happening."

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