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Eyemouth man jailed for series of attacks on women

Matthew Donnelly Stuart YoungMatthew Donnelly
Stuart Young was convicted of attacks on two women and a teenage girl

A man has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years for a series of sex attacks, including assaulting a woman who had offered him shelter.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Stuart Young attacked the 64-year-old in December 2016 after he told her he would have to sleep on a park bench.

The 41-year-old, from Eyemouth, also assaulted and repeatedly raped another woman, and molested a teenage girl.

The attacks happened over a five-year period in the Scottish Borders.

Young had denied a series of offences during an earlier trial but was found guilty of two sexual assaults and two rapes.

On Thursday, judge Lady Haldane told him: "Looked at as a whole, these convictions show a pattern of serious sexual offending.

"You were convicted by a jury unanimously of four charges covering a spectrum of sexual offending."

The judge said a statement provided by the rape victim showed that the effects of his actions on her were "profound and long lasting".

Hostile attitudes

Lady Haldane said: "Your culpability is high and the harm you have caused is significant."

A background report prepared on the rapist said he had shown negative and hostile attitudes to women.

The court heard Young continued to emphatically protest his innocence and claimed the allegations against him were motivated by malice, grudge or a desire for compensation.

Lady Haldane ordered he should be kept under supervision for a further two-year period when he would be on licence and could be returned to prison if he breached its conditions.

Young was convicted of sexual assault with intent to rape the woman who offered him shelter at her Peebles home.

He was also found guilty of repeatedly raping a second woman. The court heard that on one occasion in March 2020 he smothered her with a pillow.

Young was also convicted of carrying out a sex attack on a teenager in 2021.

Defence counsel Iain McSporran KC said Young had a good record of employment and a limited record of previous convictions.

Lady Haldane told him he would be placed on the sex offenders' register for an indefinite period.