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Rapist on bail performed magic tricks for police and security guard
Rapist Craig Myers performed magic tricks for a police officer and a shop security guard weeks after attacking his victim. - Credit: Policing Peterborough/Instagram
A rapist performed magic tricks and posed for photos with police and a store security guard weeks after attacking his victim and being released on bail.
Twenty-year-old Craig Myers, a keen magician, left his victim feeling suicidal following the “heartless, soul-destroying" attack on May 16, 2019.
Myers was arrested the same day but then released on bail.
Just two months later in July, Myers brazenly posed for pictures with a Cambridgeshire Police Specials’ officer.
Craig performing card tricks for an officer in Peterborough while on bail following his arrest. - Credit: Policing Peterborough
The ‘Policing Peterborough’ Facebook page – belonging to the same force which arrested him – tagged Myers in the post, along with the caption “Magic Moments”.
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Less than a month later, Myers visited Sainsbury’s where he posed for another photo with a security guard – with a deck of cards in hand.
Shortly after his conviction at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (January 15), police removed the pictures of him from their Facebook page.
Policing Peterborough have today (January 20) deleted the pictures. - Credit: Facebook
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His victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has spoken of the harrowing ordeal that Myers put her through when he invited her to his home before forcing her trousers down and raping her in his bedroom.
She said: “Since that night I have changed. I have spent hours scrubbing my skin, trying to remove the marks that nobody sees.
“I couldn't speak about it to most of my family. It made me feel dirty, used and as if he had killed a part of me.
“I still struggle being alone since the heartless, soul-destroying attack. My mental health has been on a downward slope since the rape and at one point I tried to take my own life.
Craig Myers' police mug shot. - Credit: Cambs Cops
“I hope he never has the chance again to hurt someone the way he did me. I will never 'get over' what happened, I live with it every single day.”
The victim stated that after the offence, Myers had fallen asleep but she was too scared to move.
The following day the victim returned home and told her family before calling police.
Myers was arrested at his Peterborough home but claimed he’d had no sexual contact with the victim, despite DNA evidence proving otherwise.
Myers poses with a Sainsbury's security guard. - Credit: Instagram
He later admitted charges of assault by penetration and rape and was sentenced to 54 months in a Young Offenders Institution.
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious sexual offence, there are support options available. Visit: www.cambs.police.uk/information-and-services/Serious-sexual-offences-and-rape/Rape-and-serious-sexual-assault
