Three-time world champion kickboxer ‘raped and abused girls as young as 11 after grooming them at martial arts classes’

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Three-time world champion kickboxer Curtis Page pictured during a training session

A top martial arts master raped and abused girls as young as 11 after grooming them in his classes, a court heard.

Three-time world champion kickboxer Curtis Page is accused of preying on vulnerable underage girls who looked up to him as a ‘father figure’.

Page, now 60, taught martial arts at clubs across the capital including one called The London Predators.

The kickboxer is on trial accused of 22 historical sex assaults and rapes against three girls over a decade.

Prosecutor James Thacker said: ‘In the marital arts world he is something of a celebrity.

‘He is well known, he is three times world champion at the sport. He has taught many people who have gone on to be world and European champions.

‘To those people who he didn’t sexually abuse he can do no wrong. The prosecution simply say he has a dual personality.’

At the time of his arrest, Page – whose son is top mixed martial arts fighter Michael ‘Venom’ Page - was head of the governing body of Great Britain Martial Arts Association and vice chairman of the British Kickboxing Council.

He has now been barred from teaching after three women came forward to accuse him of sexual abuse between 1985 and 1995 when he taught classes around London and Surrey in his late 20s and 30s, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

The prosecutor said: ‘Mr Page had a liking for young girls and groomed them.

‘All of these girls lacked father figures in their lives and looked up to Mr Page as person of authority. He drove a wedge between them and their families.’

He added: ‘This man may have been a very good teacher, may have taught some people to a very high level in the sport.

‘But outside he was controlling, domineering and in relation to these three women he sexually abused from an early age.’

The Kung Fu expert – whose pupils were told to call ‘Master Curtis Page’ – groped his first victim when she was 11 and watching the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird late at night.

He took her virginity when she was 12 and had a sexual relationship with her for years afterwards, jurors heard.

Now 42, the alleged victim told police she came forward in 2013 after seeing a photograph of herself when she was 11.

She said: ‘I looked at my picture and I was just a little girl. This was abuse. This was wrong.

‘He has affected a lot of young people’s lives. It needs to stop.’

In a video interview played to the jury, she said: ‘I cannot sleep another night without doing the right thing.

‘In my heart I know if he has done this to me, he could do this to others.

‘He is not very well. He is a very sick man.’

Page repeatedly raped another underage girl after she revealed to him that she had been abused by another older man, jurors were told.

He first had sex with her in his brown Ford before he raped her at sports halls after martial arts classes, the court heard.

Prosecutor Mr Thacker added: ‘She was frozen. She was fearful and feeling very confused.’

Another time, when the girl was older, Page raped her with a blade held to her throat and threatened to throw her out of the window of her 18th floor flat.

Another woman claims he indecently assaulted her twice when she was underage before they started a sexual relationship after she turned 16.

Jurors heard Page was last year convicted of two sexual assaults but a retrial was ordered as verdicts were not returned on the other charges.

Former BT van man Page, of Epsom, Surrey, denies 22 sex charges, including six counts of rape.

The defendant – who yesterday wore a navy blue blazer and a black shirt in the dock - insists he only had sex with the girls when they were over the age of 16.

He also has suggested the three women had ‘got their heads together’ to get him into ‘an awful lot of trouble’, the court heard.

Page is charged with six rapes, 14 indecent assaults, and two counts of sex with a child under the age of 13.

The trial continues.