Jail for rapist who began committing sex crimes aged 13

A man who began committing sex crimes when he was just 13 has been jailed for seven years.

Mark Newman, 63, of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, carried out crimes in Aberdeen, Peterhead and Ross-shire between 1972 and1987.

He was convicted of raping a woman, assaulting a teenager with intent to rape her, and three indecency offences involving two girls.

Newman was also put on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

One victim had told jurors: "I was terrified of him."

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

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

The judge told Newman: "These are serious crimes. You exploited the vulnerability of the children you abused."

Newman had claimed in front of jurors who convicted him that the proceedings were a "total farce" after they returned guilty verdicts against him on the five charges, four of which were unanimous.

However, defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC told the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday that Newman regretted his outburst and wanted to apologise.