A former Basingstoke Town player is behind bars after raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Reading.
Jahson Downes, 20, of Pell Street, Reading, was among five men who took it in turns to have sex with a girl in a Reading park.
Another man had sex with a different 12-year-old.
The six men, all aged 19 to 21, were locked up for two years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years at Reading Crown Court on Thursday last week.
The gang had all pleaded guilty to the offences last month and Downes had his contract at the Camrose terminated.
The court heard how one of the group was encouraged by one schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, with suggestive text messages on February 21 last year.
Following the texts, the gang drove to the Purley area in Reading where the two girls sneaked out of a family party to join the group.
They then went to a recreation area off George Street in Reading where the two girls split up.
One girl went behind a tree where she called five men in turn, including Downes, to perform sex acts with her, the court heard. The other girl, who was described in court as being more reluctant, was raped by the sixth man.
Judge Stephen John heard the two girls had claimed they were aged 16, with one of them giving a false age on her Facebook page, and had consented to sex.
And the girl who was raped by five men was described as an unreliable witness. She is being investigated over an unrelated false rape allegation.
After the incident, the girls were dropped off and police found them wandering the streets at 2.20am.
The men were later arrested when they admitted their crime - and discovered the true ages of the pair.
Counsel for the six defendants said their clients were “shocked” and “disgusted” when told girls’ ages.
During sentencing, Judge John said that, while the girls agreed to sex, because of their ages they are deemed not old enough to consent.
He said: “It is clear to me that all of you were utterly reckless in what you did that night.
“You saw these girls as willing sexual partners, which they were, and behaved towards them as if they were simply pieces of flesh, not people.
“By acting as you did, you will have confirmed in them twisted views of what sex is about.
“I acknowledge that the girls deliberately misled you as to their ages, and that one girl was a willing and enthusiastic participant in these sordid offences of casual sex, simply to sate you appetites.”
Downes, alongside other Reading men Ashley Charles, 20, of Laud Close, Courtney Amos, 19, of Nire Road, Jahvon Edwards, 19, of Pangbourne Street, and Dennis De Sousa, 18 of Deveron Drive, were sent to a young offenders’ institute. Luke Farrugia, 21, of Barnwood Close, was sent to prison.
