SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Judge Pattison said:

"I have listened carefully to all that your counsel has said on your behalf today – I have given careful consideration to her helpful submissions together with the evidence the jury accepted at trial, the social work report with risk assessment, your limited record and the victim impact statements from the two complainers.

You were convicted by the jury of charges two, three, four and seven on the indictment – variously of indecently assaulting and raping the first complainer and of indecently assaulting her friend.

The evidence told a story of sexual grooming, persistent and repeated rape, sexual assault and abuse. The jury heard from your victims, now survivors of your abuse, both now young women who spoke with bravery and dignity about the abuse you perpetrated upon them when they were teenagers.

You abused and raped the first complainer repeatedly while alone with her, including at camping trips which you engineered to be on your own with her to rape her again. The evidence was that this started when she was 13 and continued until she was 17 or 18.

Sexual assault and vaginal rapes were regular and persistent. You also anally raped her. You groomed her persistently for your selfish gratification. She was conflicted for much of her childhood. She was totally confused and traumatised as to why you were inflicting the abuse upon her.

You indecently assaulted her friend when she was 17 and in your house for an overnight stay. You waited till the first young woman was asleep and then rubbed her feet and legs, pushed her legs apart, touch her vagina over her clothing and penetrated her vagina with your thumb over her clothing.

In her impact statement the first complainer writes powerfully about the impact of your abuse upon her. She speaks of pain and shame, of nightmares and relentless panic. She speaks of normalising her abuse, of cycles of medications and self-harm and of failed attempts to escape overwhelming despair. And yet somehow this remarkable young woman found the strength and courage to work with children and young people like herself who had suffered similar brokenness – she became a safe place for them.

The second young woman stated that for 16 years she has lived with worry and frustration, she is anxious going out in public. She lost her friendship with the first complainer – though I hope there is yet some potential healing there to be had – and she has spoken of feeling that people did not believe her and her relationships being affected. She says that the case has tainted every happy memory.

You maintain your innocence as is your right but the jury concluded that this was your fault. Let that be clear. Your offending has had devastating lifelong consequences for these brave women. None of this was their fault.

I have assessed your culpability as high and the harm you caused was clearly significant and lifelong. There is no mitigation. Your offending is aggravated by its persistence, that the first complainer was a child for much of the abuse and by the significant breach of trust involved.

The risk assessment report assesses you as having a low risk of sexual recidivism and in all the circumstances I have concluded that an extended sentence is unnecessary.

However, given the seriousness of your offending, its prolonged nature and the impact on your victims a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable.

The focus of sentencing is punishment and deterrence.

The case was presented by the Crown as a course of conduct and it seems clear that the jury accepted that you engaged in a course of sexual abuse and I will reflect that in sentencing by imposing an in cumulo sentence on the indictment as a whole as opposed to individual sentences on each charge.

I will impose a sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment on the indictment in cumulo backdated to the date of your remand on 24 June 2025.

For legal reasons I require to explain that had I been imposing individual sentences on the charges, had they stood alone, these would have been: 4 years imprisonment on charge 2; 7 years imprisonment on charge 3; 5 years on charge 4; 2 years on charge 7.

This would have been disproportionate overall and would have offended the totality principle; the in cumulo sentence I impose means that you will instead serve 12 years in custody.

I will also make non-harassment orders in terms of 234A of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995:

These orders will state that you must not approach or contact or attempt to approach or contact either of the young women involved for an indefinite period. This means you must never contact them in any way. Any breach will result in your arrest and potentially further additional periods of imprisonment.

I have previously directed the clerk of court to intimate details of your convictions to the Scottish Ministers in terms of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

In terms of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, I am required to state again that you have been convicted of sexual offences to which Part 2 of that Act applies.

You will be subject to the notification requirements contained in the Act for an indefinite period.

The Court has certified those facts and the Clerk of Court will shortly give you a copy of that certificate together with a notice which gives further details of the notification requirements with which you must comply."