A STUDENT who admitting raping a 12 year-old girl in Edinburgh has walked free from court because he thought she was 16 and a judge said the girl was an “active participant”.

In a shock move of leniency, a judge handed Daniel Cieslak an absolute discharge meaning he escaped  further punishment But prosecutor Kath Harper told a trial: “When told she was 12 years old, he started to cry and held his head in his hands.”

Cieslak and a pal met the girl and her friend at a taxi rank before heading to a flat in Gorgie, Edinburgh, the High Court in Glasgow heard yesterday.

The predator, of Leith, kissed the girl before they had sex. 

She later told her sister she feared she was pregnant and her sibling called cops. The trial also heard the victim spoke to police hunting a missing girl before she got the cab in the early hours. But Miss Harper said her details weren’t noted as officers “were not concerned by her age”.

Polish ex-student Cieslak pled guilty to the 2015 rape. He was bailed by judge Lady Scott before sentencing next month.