Violent Penwortham rapist jailed for 19 years after appearing at Preston Crown Court

A violent rapist branded “a serious danger to all women” has been jailed for 19 years by a judge in Preston.

Kieran Larbey, from Penwortham, admitted an appalling catalogue of sexual abuse against three young women he had relationships with when he appeared for sentence at the city’s Crown Court.

The 22-year-old was charged with nine offences during a four-year reign of terror, including three rapes, sexual assault, controlling and coercive behaviour, two counts of suffocation, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and also criminal damage to a mobile phone.

Passing sentence Judge Darren Preston told him: “You have demonstrated you are a bully and a coward and a man who is a real danger to any woman you come across.

“You simply can’t control yourself in relationships. You have no idea what a genuine respectful relationship is.

“You have no respect for women or anything else other than your own selfish needs.

“You have no insight into what you have done and the damage you have done to these women.

“You are a dangerous offender. I have to consider whether there is a significant risk of you committing further specified offences.

“I am wholly satisfied that you do present such a risk.”

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The court heard Larbey, of Mark Close, Penwortham, was 17-years-old when he began his sex offending.

Two of his three victims were in court to hear him sent to jail.

Judge Preston said he must serve two-thirds of his 19-year sentence before being considered for parole.

He was also given a four-year extended licence period after he is released.

In addition he will have to keep police informed about his whereabouts for the rest of his life.

READ MORE: Mum placed in cells after screaming obscenities as rapist son jailed.

Prosecuting barrister Phil Barnes told the court Larbey began the first relationship with a 17-year-old girl he had met at college.

Soon they were living together and the problems began after she moved in with him.

It began with odd comments about her appearance, her make-up and the clothes she was wearing.

Then the violence started with Larbey kicking, punching and slapping her. He soon took control of her phone.

“What began with kicking progressed to strangulation,” said Mr Barnes.

Following one argument in which he accused her of cheating on him, he locked her in a room.

He kept checking her phone, threatened her and her family regularly, and kept her prisoner in the house.

At one point he told her he would kill himself if she left him, so she stayed.

Larbey committed his first rape when his girlfriend refused to have sex with him because of his violent and controlling behaviour.

It was quickly followed by a second rape on the same girl after she had accused him of showing her younger brother porn.

“As a result of that rape she became pregnant,” said Mr Barnes. “And she took the decision to terminate (the pregnancy).”

The relationship finally ended, although Larbey continued to try and make contact with her through social media. She contacted the police and Larbey denied having ever been violent to her.

He then began a relationship with an 18-year-old girl who was about to leave the care system. They met one day for a drink and it ended with them going back to his house and having consensual sex.

Larbey then turned violent and demanded anal sex. When she said ‘No’ he still carried out the act and raped her, injuring her in the process.

Later, when she tried to leave he attacked her, grabbing her round the neck and throwing her out of his house onto a concrete pathway, causing her several injuries. When questioned by police he again denied he had forced himself on her.

Then in January 2023 he began another relationship, this time with a 17-year-old girl who was still in care. He was 21 at the time.

Soon arguments began and she later told police he would “lose his temper over nothing.”

He committed several assaults on the girl who told police he would turn up the music in his flat to drown out the noise so neighbours would not hear.

Mr Barnes said that one time he put his hand over her mouth and squeezed her nose so she couldn’t breathe. He pushed her into the shower and then locked her in a bedroom. He also pushed her onto a bed and tried to suffocate her using his hand and then a pillow, but he was interrupted by a social worker calling.

Larbey pressured the girl into retracting a statement she had made to police about his violent behaviour, promising that he wouldn’t do it again. He said he wanted children with her and talked his way back into the relationship.

But soon he was arguing with her again, throwing her on the floor and threatening her, turning up the music to mask the argument. He also threw her mobile phone on the floor and smashed it.

She tried to leave him again, but he barricaded the door. He tried to suffocate her again until she began to feel faint. Once again he denied everything when quizzed by police.

Mr Barnes said Larbey’s criminal record included a conviction for battery against another partner who accused him of being controlling and manipulative. He also had a conviction for wounding and assault when he put a woman up against a wall and tried to strangle her.

Richard English, defending Larbey, said his client had suffered “severe trauma as a child.” He had been neglected and subjected to “serious physical abuse.” He had turned to drink and drugs.

“It is inevitable that the events (of his childhood) have marked him and affected him,” he said. Because of his difficulties growing up he had been left craving closeness and had difficulty forming relationships.”

Judge Preston said Larbey had made his first victim’s life a misery having “effectively imprisoned her in his home.” He said the girl had been put through the trauma of having a termination because he had made her pregnant.

His second victim, said the judge, was vulnerable having been in care. But Larbey “violently raped her as she protested and caused her injuries.”

He had, he said, told the police a “predictable pack of lies” when confronted by the women’s accusations. And he said Larbey had been “unable to behave like a human being.”

“Despite being only 22 you have a very bad record, particularly for violence, including domestic violence,” he said. “All of that long-standing misery (suffered by his victims) may never ever leave them.

“You are a serious danger to every woman you may come across and your offending has done nothing but escalate over the years.

“I feel that you are a dangerous offender.”