Unrepentant Carlisle rapist Barrie O'Keefe may be in jail until 2044

At the city’s crown court, a judge told the 48-year-old former Denton Holme man that he is a dangerous offender – a “sexual predator,” motivated by his desire to abuse vulnerable young people.

He jailed O'Keefe for 12 years.

The sentence came after the second of two Carlisle Crown Court trials exposed O’Keefe’s perverted and manipulative behaviour, which included him using drink and drugs to gain control over his young victims before abusing them.

The new offences that led to his jail term – the rape of a 20-year-old man and two sexual assaults on a 15-year-old boy – came after O’Keefe had already served a decade in jail for raping another 15-year-old Carlisle boy.

That earlier trial was told how the defendant befriended the schoolboy, offering to take him for an overnight fishing trip. It was during this, when the boy was stupefied through drink and drugs, that he raped him.

O’Keefe used almost identical methods when he was preparing to abuse his other two victims, taking the teenager to a remote Carlisle riverbank before plying him with drink and drugs and then abusing him.

He also befriended the young man he raped, rendering him vulnerable in the same way, though it happened at a house in Carlisle where they were staying.

O’Keefe denies all of his offending.

Referring to the most recent convictions, Judge Michael Fanning said the jury convicted O’Keefe on what was “overwhelming evidence.”

Peter Wilson, prosecuting, outlined the facts.

The young man O’Keefe went on to rape had trusted him, the two men having got to know each other while staying at the same accommodation. On the day of the rape, they watched the 2006 World Cup Final between England and Portugal at a friend’s house.

They smoked and drank together all afternoon.

“He describes ‘getting wasted,’ said Mr Wilson, referring to the victim’s physical state. Back at their accommodation, the man went to bed at 9pm. He woke in the night to find O’Keefe on top of him.

“Because of the drugs and alcohol, he wasn’t able to fight back,” said the barrister. Asked in court how he knew that he was raped on that night, he replied: “I don’t think I could ever forget if I tried.”

O’Keefe (pictured below) also plied the 15-year-old with drink and drugs during the fishing trip. At the time of both offences, the defendant was aged around 30.(Image: Cumbria Police photo)

The teenager, staying in a tent, woke late at night to find O’Keefe abusing him. He also was so befuddled by drink that he was powerless to stop O’Keefe. The older victim said he trusted O’Keefe, regarding him simply as a “friendly older man.”

Mr Wilson then read victim impact statements from both men. They were profoundly affected. “I blamed myself for what happened," said the older man. "I was embarrassed and confused.

“I didn’t know what to do. I thought about reporting it to the police in 2006 but I didn’t think I’d be believed…I carried on with my life in the best way I could. In a short period, I turned into an angry person.

“I started taking it out on people I knew; I should have been taking it out on Barrie O’Keefe. I went to prison for an assault in 2007, which was totally out of character for me.

"I got on top of my anger issues, but I never got to the bottom of it because I didn’t want to say what happened.”

His mental health issues and criminal record left him with slim employment prospects. Speaking to the police about O’Keefe’s in 2022 was a “massive weight” lifted from his shoulders, he said. 

The younger victim said he too felt embarrassed by what happened to him, and it was only in 2022 that he felt able to tell the police exactly what happened. The abuse led to him turning to drink and drugs.

He too became an angry young man, and he had been into and out of prison as a result after committing a wide range of offences.

“I no longer trust people anymore,” he said. “I don’t like the person I have become... If I’d got closure in 2006, I do wonder if my life would have turned out differently.”

The court heard that O’Keefe has 29 previous offences on his record, including the previous child rape as well as dishonesty crimes. The defendant's barrister said there was no remorse from O’Keefe because he continues to deny his offending.

The defendant also denied allegations in other police files – naming him as a prime suspect in multiple male rape investigations.

Read more: Carlisle sex offender 'prime suspect in four male rape investigations'

Judge Michael Fanning told O’Keefe: “You were convicted on overwhelming evidence. It doesn’t matter that each of them [the victims] have had their troubles.

“They are human beings and the whole course of their lives has been ruptured by you, by what you did to them. You are, as is spelled out in the pre-sentence report, a predatory sexual being.” O’Keefe was motivated by a desire to create opportunities in which he could abuse vulnerable young people.

Both victims were vulnerable.

The shame linked to the sex crimes before the court was O’Keefe’s, not for victims. The judge said he was satisfied O’Keefe is a dangerous offender, who will remain a “significant risk” to the public for the foreseeable future.

Read more: 'It's never too late': Plea to survivors as Carlisle pervert jailed

The 12-year jail term will include an eight-year extension to his licence period, meaning O’Keefe will remain at risk of recall until September 2044. He will only be released before then if deemed by the Parole Board to not pose a risk.

An earlier court ruling imposed tight restrictions on O’Keefe and included a ban on him associating with “lone males.” The defendant showed no emotion throughout the sentencing hearing, which he watched via a prison video link.

As he concluded the case, Judge Fanning told the two victims, sitting in the court’s public gallery: “I know that the whole course of your lives changed on those days; I also know, as you have said in your victim personal statements, that you feel there is some optimism now; some chance to make progress.

“I commend you for having the courage to do this. It has been difficult… Without your courage, that man would have got away with it.”

The judge also praised the two police investigators who worked on the case, Steve Siddaway and Doug Marshall, who had done all they could to ensure that the two men would get justice.