York labourer convicted of 2017 rape as inquest into Leah Bedford’s death continues

Kristian John Franks, a 35-year-old labourer, was convicted by a York Crown Court jury on September 18 of raping a woman in a van in a separate incident about six years earlier. He is due to be sentenced on October 30, with the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, directing probation officers to assess the danger he poses to others. The verdict comes as prosecutors and investigators continue to weigh the connections to the deaths and assaults surrounding the case of Leah Bedford, a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in the River Ouse in York in September 2023.

Leah Bedford was last seen in the early hours of September 20, 2023, near Lendal Bridge, and her body was recovered from the river eight days later near Terry Avenue. Two weeks before her disappearance, she had told North Yorkshire Police that Franks had sexually assaulted her after he picked her up in his white van. Franks denied the allegation, and the CPS later dropped the rape charge after Leah’s death, when she was no longer able to give evidence in cross-examination. He was formally acquitted in relation to that accusation.

During a trial this week, a woman who did not know Franks testified that, six years earlier, he approached her after dark, invited her into his home, and followed her in a taxi after she declined. Driving a white van, Franks then allegedly drove her to a secluded place and raped her. Although Franks denied the assault, the jury found him guilty in a unanimous verdict on September 18 and he has been placed on the sex offenders register. He is to be sentenced on October 30.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told the court that probation officers should assess the danger Franks poses to others and indicated that information on the impact of his actions on the victim would help determine the length and nature of any sentence. An inquest into Leah Bedford’s death opened in 2023, with a coroner unable to determine a cause of death at that time. Leah was last seen near Lendal Bridge, and the River Ouse search covered several days before her body was recovered. Following Leah’s death, the CPS dropped the rape case against Franks on the basis that she could not be cross-examined, and Franks was subsequently acquitted in relation to that charge.

A three-day inquest into Leah Bedford’s death is due to begin on December 8, continuing to explore the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death, even as criminal proceedings against Franks proceed. For now, the focus in York remains on the conviction against Franks for the earlier, separate rape and the ongoing public and legal interest in Leah Bedford’s death.