A “COWARD” who raped a teenager three times in an underground car park before knocking her unconscious has been jailed.

Kevin Keith, aged 26, of Tanhouse Lane, Malvern, was jailed for nine years at Worcester Crown Court.

He was found guilty of the offences following an earlier trial during which his 17-year-old victim gave evidence.

The rapes happened in an underground car park in Farnham, Surrey on New Year’s Day 2014 after a party at a friend’s house.

Judge Andrew Lockhart issued an indefinite restraining preventing Keith having any contact with his victim and placed him on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Judge Lockhart said the psychological and physical harm Keith had inflicted had been ‘severe’.

Aggravating features included the ‘prolonged’ nature of the incident.

He said: “It’s the way he treated her which, on any basis, is disturbing.”

Other aggravating features were she was pushed to the ground on a number of occasions, that she was knocked unconscious and the rapes happened in an isolated location.

However, he conceded there had been no abuse of trust, no previous violence, no commercial exploitation and no planning.

Jason Aris, defending, asked the judge to be merciful towards Keith, bearing in mind his young age although he admitted he had an unattractive history.

He said: “His home life has been quite a difficult one. His mother is suffering from terminal lung cancer. That will go some way towards explaining why he has found himself moving back to the Malvern area.”

Keith was sentenced him to nine years imprisonment for rape and actual bodily harm and handed two concurrent nine-year sentences for the other two rapes and an 18-month concurrent sentence for the assault.

Investigating officer PC Tamzin Ede said: “The sentence reflects the severity of the offences committed by this dangerous man, who has lured her back to where he was sleeping rough and then taken advantage of her in the worst possible way.

“His victim is to be commended for bringing his offending to light.”