A 14-year-old boy who raped a grandmother in a “cruel and humiliating attack” on Remembrance weekend was jailed last night.

The newspaper delivery boy put the 77-year-old woman through a terrifying sex ordeal but a judge rejected an application to reveal his identity, saying he had suffered a troubled and damaged upbringing.

He admitted putting the pensioner through the rape on November 12 after she had agreed to let him into her Banbury home to talk about the war years as part of a school project.

Sentencing the youth at Oxford Crown Court, Judge Patrick Eccles told him: “This was a cruel and humiliating sex attack on a vulnerable 77-year-old who was in her own home.

“This was a planned and not an impulsive attack. It was sexual and you had persistence.

“She can be proud of the efforts she made to protect herself and you should be ashamed of yourself for not stopping.”

The court was told the youth had been ‘mentally damaged’ while growing up.

His alcoholic father walked out on his mother at an early age and he was around domestic violence incidents involving his mother’s boyfriends. The court also heard that in a letter to the judge the victim and her family had demonstrated “empathy and grace” in their reaction to the defendant.

The youth, from Banbury, was jailed for an indeterminate time with a minimum of two years in youth custody. Judge Eccles said he would only be released when doctors felt he had been sufficiently rehabilitated.