Sex offender who raped woman jailed for five years

A man who repeatedly raped a sleeping woman at a house in Dundee has been jailed for five years.

Gavin Cooper, 38, went on to commit sex crimes against two other women, including uploading explicit footage to a social media site.

A judge told Cooper at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Your behaviour is plainly abusive of women and demonstrates in all their cases a callous disregard for their privacy, private space and their bodies.”

Judge Norman McFadyen said the rape offence was the most serious but Cooper’s other crimes disclosed “a troubling attitude towards women”.

He said: “I accept you have been acquitted of some of the most serious charges against you but you remain convicted of serious charges against three different women.”

He added it was clear that a custodial sentence was required to deal with Cooper, who followed the sentencing proceedings by a video link to Perth prison.

Judge McFadyen also ordered that Cooper be kept under supervision for a further three years and warned that if he failed to comply with conditions his licence could be revoked.

Cooper had originally faced a total of 23 charges and denied the offending during an earlier trial.

He was found guilty of raping one woman on various occasions between December 2010 and June 2015.

He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a second sleeping woman by touching her thigh, breasts and privates at a hotel in Edinburgh on August 5 in 2018.

He was further convicted of sending explicit images and video footage of a further woman to her and another woman in Dundee in January last year.

Cooper was also found guilty of sending footage of the woman engaged in intercourse to her and another female and uploading it to the YouTube website with the intention to cause her fear, alarm or distress in January last year.

Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe said that Cooper continued to deny the offences, but respected the decision of the jury at his trial.

He said the self employed electrician had worked both in this country and abroad and was set to go to Amsterdam for a contract when he was detained last year.

Mr Crowe said his previous offending did not have a sexual element and added: “He has never previously received a custodial sentence.”

Cooper was told that he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.