Armed attacker abducted and violently raped woman in Midlothian home

An armed sex offender who abducted a woman and subjected her to a violent rape ordeal has been jailed for 11 years.

Neil Kerr detained the victim against her will in a house in Mayfield, in Midlothian, after locking doors and commanding dogs to guard her.

Kerr, 49, slapped the woman and held a knife to her neck and sexually assaulted her at the property on March 26 last year.

A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Custody is the only appropriate disposal having regard to the serious nature of the offending.”

Judge Alison Stirling ordered that Kerr should be under supervision in the community for a further three years, when he will be on licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches conditions.

The judge said the reasons for the sentence included punishment, protection of the public and rehabilitation in a custodial setting.

The court heard Kerr was a long-standing drug user and was taking cocaine at the time of the attack.

Kerr had earlier denied a series of charges at a trial but was convicted of four offences by a jury. He was found guilty of abusive behaviour towards the woman in March last year, raping her on two occasions during that month and abducting her.

During abuse directed at the victim he shouted, swore and made derogatory remarks towards her and threatened her.

He also went with her to an ATM and forced her to withdraw money from the cash machine and hand it over to him.

Kerr had been freed twice on bail at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at the time he committed the offences.

Defence counsel Richard Goddard KC said: “Standing the nature of the charges in this case a custodial sentence is an inevitability.”

He said Kerr was “a man who did not have an easy start to his life”. He said his life was blighted by the misuse of drugs which began at “an alarmingly young age” and continued into adulthood.

The defence counsel said that although Kerr has previous convictions they were not for sexual crimes and the bulk of his offending occured when he was a much younger man.

The judge issued a non-harassment order banning Kerr from contacting or attempting to contact the victim for an indefinite period.

Kerr, a prisoner, was also told following the sentencing that he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.