Rapist Mark Newman who committed sex crimes from age 13 watched girl with boyfriend through patio doors

A rapist who began committing sex crimes when he was aged just 13 has been jailed for seven years after earlier claiming he was denied a fair trial.

Mark Newman alleged in front of jurors who convicted him that the proceedings were “a total farce” and that they had been misled after they returned guilty verdicts against him on five charges, four of which were unanimous.

But Newman’s defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC told the High Court in Edinburgh that he regrets his outburst and an apology was made before the judge.

Newman, 63, formerly of Auchcairnie Cottages, Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, was convicted of raping an adult woman, assaulting a teenager with intent to rape her and three indecency offences involving two girls.

The offences occurred between August 1972 and December 1987 and took place at a house in Ross-shire and addresses at Peterhead and Aberdeen.

One victim told the court: “I was terrified of him, terrified.”

She later reported the abuse to police and said: “I felt a load off my shoulders, that somebody had listened to me.”

The woman, now 55, said that Newman began abusing her when she was a young child and would give her sweets or small amounts of money “not to say anything”.

She told advocate depute Leanne Cross: “I couldn’t say how many times. It was just whenever he got a chance.

She said that Newman also got her to perform a sex act on him as well as taking his opportunities to molest her as a child.

The woman told the court that he also attacked her at a house in the Bucksburn area of Aberdeen when she was a teenager after she was on a sofa kissing and cuddling with her then boyfriend while they watched TV.

She said: “I heard something at the patio doors at the back of the house. I didn’t think anything of it. He came through the patio doors. He had been watching us.”

She said her boyfriend left and Newman grabbed her and began touching her before she fled from the house.

The assault on the teenager occurred between August 1983 and August 1986 during which Newman struggled with her and attempted to remove her clothes.

He had earlier raped a woman at a caravan in Aberdeen on an occasion between January 1978 and December 1980. Newman attacked his victim when she was alone with him.

His final victim was a seven-year-old girl at a house in Aberdeen.

Newman had denied the offences during his earlier trial but Ms Cross told the jury: “The evidence you have heard shows there was a clear course of conduct being systematically carried out by the accused.”

A judge told Newman: “These are serious crimes. You exploited the vulnerability of the children you abused.”

Lord Beckett said some of the offending was committed against children who were very young at the time.

The judge told him that he would be put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely following his sentencing