A MAN who sexually assaulted two 14-year-old girls after plying them

with drink and drugs was jailed for a total of 14 years yesterday.

Unemployed Peter Tobin, 47, was told by Mr Justice Waterhouse that the

girls had been seriously affected by his conduct and ''it may well be

that their prospects in life have been gravely and permanently

impaired''. To describe what had happened to them as an ordeal was

inadequate.

Winchester Crown Court had heard that one of the girls, who was a

virgin, was threatened with a knife and forced to swallow wine and

tablets at Tobin's flat in Havant, Hampshire, on a night last August.

While unconscious, she was raped and buggered.

Her friend, who had collapsed after being given a drink, woke to find

herself lying on the floor, with her jeans on the other side of the

room, her knickers halfway down, and the other girl next to her. Tobin

had left.

The girl raised the alarm and her friend was admitted to intensive

care in hospital. When police went to Tobin's flat, they found a gas

fire in the lounge was on but unlit.

Tobin fled to Brighton, where he joined a religious group and, using a

false name, immersed himself in its community at Stockton, Warwickshire.

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Andy Stewart said he was

pleased with the sentence passed and glad Tobin's pleas of guilty had

spared the girls from the further ordeal of having to give evidence.

Tobin had admitted charges of rape and buggery of one girl, for which

he was sentenced to 14 years concurrent on each, and indecent assault of

the other, for which he was jailed for five years, also to run

concurrently.

His earlier pleas of not guilty to charges of attempted murder and

false imprisonment were accepted by the Crown.

Mr Anthony Davies, prosecuting, said the two girls had gone to the

flats where Tobin lived on August 4 to visit a woman.

She was not in and they went to Tobin's flat, where he lived with his

six-year-old son.

He plied the girls with cider they had bought and a vodka-based drink.

He gave each girl two small tablets he referred to as ''blues'', saying

he had taken three that day. However, the girls only pretended to take

them.

When one of the girls got up from the sofa, she felt dizzy and fell.

The other girl was sick in the bathroom and then tried to wake her

friend.

Tobin threatened her with a bread knife and said that if she kept on

crying he would kill her.

He forced her to take some pills with wine, and she lost

consciousness.

The other girl woke at about 6.25am next morning and found a bloodied

bandage around her wrists, a tie around her ankle, and her friend next

to her. After trying to wake her, she went home and raised the alarm.

Mr James Chadwin, QC, defending, said the guilty pleas had spared the

girls the ordeal of giving evidence.