A 43-YEAR-OLD man from Cadoxton with 45 previous convictions for 73 offences has been given a 15-year prison sentence and a further three years on extended licence after he was convicted of locking a woman in his home overnight and raping her.
Following a trial at Newport Crown Court, Kenneth Crane was found guilty of two charges, each of rape and false imprisonment, along with offences of intentional strangulation and threatening a person with a knife.
The court heard that in September 2024, Crane locked a woman inside his home and kept her there overnight, where he threatened to rape her, and later carried out his threat.
Shortly after the attack, Crane threatened to gut a woman with a knife, locked her in his home and called her abusive names while he spat at her, before pushing her against a doorframe and strangling her.
Crane behaved aggressively in court during the trial. On one occasion, he was charged with contempt of court after shouting at a witness, ‘Wait ‘til I see you. Wait ‘til I see you, c***. Wait ‘til I see you, bro’ and he repeatedly used vile language to insult prosecution barrister Emma Harris.
Ms Harris said that Crane was subject to a suspended sentence at the time he committed the rape.
Claire Wilks, mitigating on behalf of Crane, acknowledged that her client’s previous offending was a “difficult obstacle” for the defence, but that these were his first offences of a sexual nature, and that “Mr Crane maintains his denials.”
Ms Wilks added that Crane had mental health problems, that he was “insecure”, “became fixated on negative thoughts” and “had a disruptive upbringing”.
Passing sentence, Judge Daniel Williams told Crane: “You are without a conscience, still less remorse for what you did.”
In addition to his prison term, Crane must register as a sex offender for life and was made the subject of a restraining order that will remain in force for life.
By Marcus Stead – News Reporter
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