Jun 2013 Plymouth man jailed for 13 years for raping teenage girls A MAN has been jailed for 13 years for raping two girls and sexually abusing two others. Married Kevin Craige, aged 40, offered his victims cannabis and alcohol before taking advantage of them, Plymouth Crown Court heard. Judge Graham Cottle, jailing him for 13 years for a total of five sexual offences, said: “You clearly have a sexual interest in teenage girls.” He added Craige’s victims reacted by “freezing” and “were in shock”. Judge Cottle said: “They could not comprehend what had happened to them. It took two years for the offences to come to light.” But he added Craige simply denied anything inappropriate had happened. Judge Cottle said: “You asserted that these girls put their heads together to make up false accusations against you for reasons you were at a loss to explain. This was an account the jury clearly rejected.” Craige, of Glenholt, had denied two offences of rape and three counts of sexual activity with a child on various dates between March 2008 and October 2010. The offences happened at his previous homes in Pennycross, Roborough and in the village of Smithaleigh just outside Plympton. A jury took only about an hour and a half after a week-long trial to convict him on all five charges. Craige, wearing a smart shirt and tie, barely reacted as the foreman read out the unanimous guilty verdicts. Judge Cottle jailed him for six years for one rape and five for another plus another two years for one of the sexual activity offences, to run consecutively. The other jail terms will be served concurrently. Malcolm Galloway, for the Crown Prosecution Service, handed the court statements from the girls. He said: “It has had an effect on the close relationships they have been able to have with men.” Garth Richardson, for Craige, said it was difficult to mitigate because Craige had denied anything had happened. He added: “He is well regarded in the workplace. He has recently married and his wife is standing by him.”