POLICE are looking for a teenager who raped an 11-year-old schoolgirl in a supermarket toilet while she attended a school course.

The girl had visited her local Sainsbury’s store to attend her first “explore and learn” class, during which teachers help youngsters who are struggling with English and maths.

After the class she was met by her mother, whom she helped with her shopping. The girl then asked her mother if she could use the lavatory in the shop.

Watching her enter the women’s lavatories was a youth, thought be about 16, who was wearing a hoody and smelt of cigarette smoke.

He entered the lavatory unnoticed as dozens of shoppers milled around and waited in the next cubicle.

When the girl left her cubicle, the teenager followed her to the door and covered her mouth with his hand to muffle her screams. He then dragged her back into a cubicle and subjected her to a ten-minute assault.

Moments after the attack, he heard another woman enter the lavatory. He waited until she had left before fleeing the scene.

The girl, who was still trembling in terror, found her mother and told her about a “nasty man”.

Police were called to the Sainsbury’s store at the Shires Retail Park in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

The girl’s mother, 44, said yesterday: “This brute needs to be either behind bars or shot. How anybody can do that to a defenceless 11-year-old girl is beyond me.

“It is every parent’s nightmare. She was only gone for a matter of minutes, yet something as horrible as this happened.

“She came and found me 15 minutes later and I knew that something was up. She was white, and shaking from head to toe.”

She added: “I don’t think he should be walking round here ever again. If he does it once at that age, he will do it again. As a mum I really feel guilty, because I should have taken her to the toilet, but you think that they are safe. She can’t go into a toilet on her own — not even at home.”

Her mother, a hospital worker who also has two teenage sons, said that her daughter would need counselling.

Warwickshire police believe that the girl’s attacker has long hair, which he had hidden underneath a hood during the attack.

Detectives say that he had been hanging around in the supermarket foyer, which was close to the lavatory where the attack happened.

Detective Chief Inspector Adrian Pearson said: “The girl goes into the middle of three cubicles. At some point her attacker comes in and hides in the next one. As soon as she leaves he steps out and follows.

“She gets to the exit and he then grabs her, putting his hand over her mouth and forces her back into the cubicle.

“He locks the door and rapes her. He does not strip her completely. Afterwards he threatens her not to tell the police or her mum.

“The girl has told us that the attacker was a white male, about 16 years of age but we are looking anyone in their late teens and early twenties. His face had a heavy amount of acne on it and he is described as being about 5ft 6in or 5ft 7in tall. He was wearing a black, hooded anorak-type top. The front of the top was red with distinctive, silver, vertical stripes. He appeared to have a grey T-shirt on underneath.

“His hair was long and hidden beneath the hood but it kept poking out and was just below the cheek bone. He had a centre parting.”

Mr Pearson added: “He acted in such a brazen and determined way, and saw the opportunity to attack this little girl in such a short timeframe. It’s an obvious possibility that if he is not caught he may strike again.”

Police are now trying to trace witnesses. A 16-year-old boy, who was being held by police, has since been eliminated from their inquiries.

They have produced posters showing a sketch of the alleged offender in the hope that he will be recognised by members of the public.

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