Serial rapist attacked first victim when he was 12

A triple rapist who attacked his first victim when he was only 12 has been sentenced to five years’ detention.

The now 17-year-old schoolboy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, raped his latest victim while he was out on bail.

At the High Court in Glasgow, a judge said the teenager would be on licence for seven years after his release from custody.

Lord Arthurson told the boy, who appeared via video link: “I am deeply concerned by the risk you present to the public and in particular to young female children and women.

“You appear to be an extremely dangerous young man. You are fixated on the strangulation of females.”

The court heard the boy began watching pornography aged 11.

He throttled his last victim while he raped her in what Lord Arthurson described as “escalating” behaviour.

Defence counsel Tony Lenehan said: “It is fair to say he had inadequate parenting.

“His understanding of the adult world came from the internet, computer games and pornography. His exposure to pornography came from 11 onwards.”

The teen committed his first rape when he was 12 and his victim 11. His second rape took place when he was 16 and his victim was 15.

The youth attacked his third victim, who was 13, just three months after being released on bail. The teenager pleaded guilty to raping all three girls.

The offences were committed between 2015 and 2019. He attacked his first victim in 2015 in the Craigshill area of Livingston after suggesting they go into the woods.

The teenager then raped a 15-year-old girl near a canal path in Linlithgow on June 28 last year.

He was arrested on suspicion of rape and, after appearing at Livingston Sheriff Court on September 19 last year, was granted bail.

On December 20, he raped a 13-year-old girl at a flat in Bathgate after he invited her to the property.

The girl repeatedly told him to stop and tried to move away but he raped her while choking her again.

The 17-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register.