A CONVICTED child rapist from Carlisle who is accused of committing sex crimes against two other young males exhibited a ‘clear method of operating’, a jury heard.

In his closing speech at the city’s crown court, prosecutor Peter Wilson said that the alleged crimes for which 48-year-old Barrie O’Keefe is on trial for showed similarities to the rape offence he is already convicted of.

In that case, another Carlisle Crown Court jury considered the evidence and concluded the defendant did rape a 15-year-old boy during a night-time fishing trip in 2006.

O’Keefe maintains that he was wrongly convicted.

He also denies three more sex crimes, which the prosecution say he also committed 18 years ago in Carlisle: the alleged rape of a 20-year-old man and the sexual assault of and sexual activity with another 15-year-old boy.

Addressing the jury, Mr Wilson said both teenagers– the one for whom a conviction was secured and the boy who made the allegation currently being tried – had woken in the night to find that O’Keefe was assaulting them.

Mr Wilson said: “He gave them both fishing gear; both were drinking Fosters lager; and they both had cannabis. It is a clear method of operating from Mr O’Keefe.

“He befriends young boys, and he assaults them.”

Referencing both the alleged rape of the 20-year-old and the alleged sexual offences against the teenager, Mr Wilson said both cases involved the victims being given drugs known as a “poppers”.

There was a clear MO for all these offences, said the prosecutor, pointing to the alleged use of the drugs and alcohol.

Mr Wilson suggested that the previous rape conviction and the evidence from the current trial showed a “propensity” for O’Keefe to abuse young boys.

“He’s bigger and stronger than the three of them,” he said. “They were just young boys, looking up to an older man, who had been kind to them.

“He was giving them things, fishing gear; he then gave them alcohol; he gave them drugs and when they were incapacitated he sexually abused all three of them.”

The prosecutor also addressed the later timing of the allegations.

Of the younger alleged victim, who was interviewed by the police in 2006, Mr Wilson said: “He was helpless; he found it scary and wasn’t able to do anything. As to why he would not open up to the police, as soon as he realised who would see it [the videoed interview], he shut up
shop.

“He could not open up to his girlfriend; he could not tell his mum or best friend, but his evidence on Monday afternoon was powerful.”

At no point over the years had the now adult accuser asked for compensation, said Mr Wilson. There was no evidence that the two alleged victims had colluded, said the prosecutor.

Mr Wilson spoke also of how O’Keefe, who formerly lived in Denton Holme, Carlisle, told the jury in his evidence that he could not recall whether he gave evidence in the earlier rape trial.

“That would be a significant moment in any person’s life,” said Mr Wilson.

O’Keefe went to prison for the offence.

The barrister pointed out that in 2006 O’Keefe had accepted, when quizzed by the police, that he knew the teenager he is accused of sexually assaulting, but in 2022 he claimed he did not know him.

“The only explanation is that he is a liar,” said Mr Wilson.

The lawyer had started his closing speech by saying: “These cases can stir emotions and feelings, especially emotions from the witnesses. You must concentrate on the evidence.

“The evidence shows undoubtedly that Mr O’Keefe is guilty.”

Brendan Burke, for O’Keefe, said the prosecution case had undergone a “seismic shift” when an allegation that the defendant raped the second 15-year-old was withdrawn during the trial.

The barrister suggested that the defendant’s accusers had “reproduced” some of the facts from the earlier successful rape prosecution.

The jury are likely to begin considering their verdicts today (Thursday).