Search results for Glasgow

Description

A charity volunteer who sexually assaulted three teenage boys is facing a jail sentence. Stephen Murray, 50, attacked the lads on separate occasions while they stayed at his former home in South Queensferry. Murray invited the boys, two aged 16 and one 14-years-old, to sleep over at his flat before creeping into their bedroom and climbing into bed with them. He then kissed and groped the teenagers who were said to have been left petrified by the attacks and had pretended to be asleep. The three victims, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, were left so terrified by the sex assaults they failed to tell anyone what had happened to them for years afterwards. Once brave victim then came forward and made a statement to police and the two other boys decided to inform police of the assaults on them. Murray pleaded guilty to the three sex attacks on the teenage boys at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. His social media states he is a volunteer with the International Fire and Rescue Association charity who aid emergency services in developing nations around the world. The bus driver also states on the page he is an RAF reservist, a sessional medic and home carer for his family. Prosecutor Alan Wickham told the court Murray was a widower and made contact with the first of his victims through a Facebook private message after the lad had posted a relative had died. Murray told the boy he had recently lost his wife and understood what he was going through before sending the boy gifts through the post. The boy was invited to stay at Murrays home after the pervert had invited the lad to attend an event at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife in April 2014. The pair had dinner and watched TV before the boy retired to bed at around midnight with Murray saying he would sleep on the couch. During the night the boy heard the door of the bedroom opening and Murray slipped into bed beside the youngster, tickled his ears and performed a sex act on him.. The boy pretended to be asleep and made no mention of the attack the following day. The victim told police he was also sexually assaulted a second time by Murray six months later. The second victim also stayed over Murrays home in April 2014 and presumed he would sleep alone in the perverts bed. But again during the night Murray made his way into the room and after creeping into the bed he kissed and fondled the boys genitals while the lad pretended to be asleep. The boy told police he did not tell anyone as he was petrified by the attack and that Murray said to him the following morning sorry for getting into bed but he was cold and had come through for a heat. The boy told police Murray had also assaulted him a second time at an address in Ayrshire. The third boy was attacked in a similar way at the South Queensferry home in January 2015 after agreeing to stay the night. The sex assaults eventually came to light in January 2019 when one of the victims made contact with police to make a statement. Sheriff Nigel Ross placed Murray on the Sex Offenders Register and deferred sentence to later this year. Murray was released on bail. Murray admitted to sexually assaulting two teenage boys on two occasions at an address in South Queensferry and an address in Ayrshire between April 1, 2014 and January 31, 2015. He also admitted to a charge engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy by rubbing his leg and touching his penis over his clothing at the South Queensferry address between January 1 and 31, 2015.

Description

A 60-year-old man has been sentenced to a minimum of 14 years for the murder of Mary McLaughlin who was killed in Glasgow in 1984.

Graham McGill was arrested on Wednesday, 4 December, 2019, following a case review by officers from Police Scotland’s Homicide Governance Review Team.  He was found guilty by a unanimous verdict on 9 April 2021.

Mary McLaughlin was last seen in the company of a man in the Partick area of Glasgow on Wednesday, 26 September, 1984. She was never seen alive again and was found dead in her home, in Laurel Street, six days later. 

The post mortem examination established Mary had been strangled and her death had occurred at least five days prior to when she was found. Despite extensive enquiries being carried out at the time, no-one was ever identified as being responsible for Mary’s death and family members were denied justice for their loved one.

Detective Superintendent Suzanne Chow said: “Despite crimes occurring years ago, there is always hope of solving them one day, they are never forgotten. Mary’s family has waited a long time for justice and I hope today’s verdict provides some form of resolution for them. It is fitting to know that despite the passage of time, justice has finally been served. In all case reviews, families are uppermost in our minds and we work hard to present the best evidential case to ensure successful convictions.”

DNA has proved to be a powerful tool in the fight against crime. During the case review, a number of items from the original investigation were identified for priority examination. Unidentified samples taken at the time of the murder, were re-examined and they matched Graham McGill. 

SPA Forensic Scientist Joanne Cochrane said: "The SPA Forensic Services Cold Case Review Team carried out a full forensic review of this case which identified a number of items for further DNA analysis using the very latest technologies available. This analysis resulted in finding DNA attributable to Graham McGill on several items, including a cigarette end, the ligature around Mary McLaughlin’s neck, and on the dress she had been wearing."

McGill did not feature in the 1984 investigation. Officers then discovered that McGill had been on weekend release from prison at the time Mary was murdered. Over the coming months, officers re-examined paperwork, revisited several original witnesses at the time and utilised updated technology to gather the evidence needed to arrest Graham McGill.

On Wednesday, 4 December, 2019, the investigation culminated in the arrest of Graham McGill. He was arrested and charged in connection with the death of Mary McLaughlin and at the High Court in Glasgow he was finally been held to account.

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Mark Williamson of the Calderwood area had nearly 5000 indecent images and clips on his devices. A sick Calderwood perv who told police it looked like some children enjoyed being abused has avoided jail. Appearing for sentencing at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday, Mark Williamson was given a two-year supervision order. The 28-year-old, of Maxwellton Road , was also placed on the sex offenders register for the same duration. Court previously heard that nearly 5000 indecent images and video clips were found on devices belonging to the creep, who admitted downloading and possessing child porn between January 2012 and June last year. Fiscal depute, Paula Russell, said girls featured in images downloaded by Williamson could have been as young as four, adding that his Internet history showed searches for pre-teens. His sick predilection was uncovered after police raided a flat in Glasgow Road, Blantyre, where he was staying in June last year. Sick Williamson told police that a distinction should be drawn between teenagers and those under the age of 12, but said he had stumbled upon images while searching online for music. Ms Russell had previously told how Williamson had stressed he was not sexually aroused by them but had a persistent, morbid curiosity. She added: He said he did not enjoy seeing children in pain and could not tell from the images whether or not they were. Their faces were often covered, but possibly in some images the children appeared to be enjoying it. Williamsons defence said his client clearly has issues but had co-operated with social work so far and would continue to do so. Diarmid Bruce added: My client pleaded guilty at the first diet stage. Its a serious matter and he knows his conduct was unacceptable. Sentencing the pervert, Sheriff Thomas Miller said he was willing to go with the recommendations in the very full report he had been presented with. Williamson has also been banned from owning any device with Internet access unless it had the ability to store a search history that could not be deleted.

Description

A RAPIST was snared after his victim secretly recorded him confessing to the crime. Gary Rawlings attacked the 17 year-old girl at a flat in Glasgow's Thornliebank in late 2016. She did not disclose her ordeal to anyone but months later captured the 18 year-old on her mobile phone admitting what he had done. This included Rawlings claiming he did not think the victim was serious when she told him to stop. Rawlings has now been locked up for three years after he pled guilty to rape at the High Court in Glasgow. Judge Norman Ritchie QC told him: Your belated admission (of guilt) spared her having to give evidence. He added what happened to the girl has had long lasting consequences for her. It emerged Rawlings has already been hit with a lifelong Non-Harassment Order not to approach the teenager following separate court proceedings. The rape occurred after the pair were together at a flat in Glasgow's Thornliebank. The court heard they went on to initially have consensual sex. But, after a few moments, the girl told Rawlings: Can we stop? I don't want to do this anymore. Prosecutor Bill McVicar went on to state: He continued to have sex with her as she repeatedly told him she did not want to. She tried to move her body about the bed to stop it happening. However, Rawlings still carried on for around 10 minutes. The victim then said: I told you to stop. I did not want to do it. Rawlings replied: I'm sorry. Mr McVicar said the girl was left upset. She did not tell anyone at the time as she was worried no one would believe her. It was last April when the victim and a friend were in Glasgow city centre that they then bumped into Rawlings. He made a comment to her, but she ignored him and tried to walk away. But, the court heard the girl then decided to record Rawlings on her phone without his knowledge. He then went on to admit to the sex attack. Mr McVicar said: He made admissions of having raped her and these were recorded on the mobile phone. He indicated what happened had been a mistake and that he did not think she was being serious when she told him to stop. He had been aware that she was upset when she was leaving the flat. The victim went to police after further unwanted contact by Rawlings. She stated she had been raped and handed over the phone with the recording. Rawlings was later quizzed by police, but made no comment.

Description

A DISGRACED paedo maths teacher at one of Scotland's top private schools has been jailed for making his own child porn - recording girls as young as nine on webcam chats.

Craig Wood, 52, who worked at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, pleaded guilty to three charges of involvement with indecent images of children and was caged for three years.

He was caught with almost 1,000 indecent images of girls between aged nine and 15, created using apps called 'Flashing' and 'Penis Pokey'.

Wood also made videos - some which lasted as long as two hours - in which he exposed himself to girls after watching them perform sex acts.

Among Woods's sordid stash was a 12-minute video of a girl aged between 13 and 15 performing sex acts on herself while "interacting and/or taking direction" from someone on the other end of a web cam.

Last month he admitted making "indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children" at his home in Paisley between August 3, 2014 and February 23, 2017.

He also admitted charges of possessing child porn and forcing children to expose themselves to him.

He has lost his job as a teacher and faces being struck off after being caught with 959 indecent images.

Some of them were at the most extreme end of the scale.

There were so many victims of Wood's horrific online behaviour that prosecutors were unable to say how many children were involved.

A former teacher at £11,000-per-year Hutcheson's, Wood previously worked at Renfrewshire Council-run Paisley Grammar.

He was jailed at Paisley Sheriff Court and placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Wood was slammed by Susan Sinclair, the judge who sentenced him, who said: Over a period of two-and-a-half years you were able to contact females between the age of nine and 15, in the context of some form of web communication.

"In the course of which you have exposed yourself to these children and created videos of this and their participation in it, as a result of information sent by you.

"You used this knowledge to target the groups concerned.

"There is no alternative but to impose a sentence of imprisonment."

Wood showed no emotion when he was led away in handcuffs.

A spokesperson for Hutchesons’ Grammar School said: "A member of staff at the Secondary School was immediately suspended when we became aware of the criminal charges.
"He no longer works at the school having left last year.

"Police Scotland has advised us that our pupils and staff have not been, and are not, at risk.

"All the relevant and required checks were carried out at his time of employment. These were satisfactory."

Description

A man who sexually assaulted a teenager and raped a woman while they were sleeping has been jailed for six years.

Darren McCutcheon, 31, from Springburn, Glasgow, was convicted of attacking the 17-year-old at a house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in December 2012.

He was also found guilty of raping the second victim at a different address in the town on 19 April last year.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, McCutcheon was also placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

'Great distress'

Jailing him, judge Lord Woolman told McCutcheon: "On each occasion the victim was asleep and under the influence of alcohol."

The judge said his behaviour had caused "great distress and harm" and added: "There must be a clear message to deter you and others from such conduct."

Lord Woolman also ordered that McCutcheon be placed under supervision for a further two-year period after his release.

McCutcheon had denied assaulting the teenager on 8 December 2012 by going into the bed where she was sleeping at a house in Hamilton.

He also denied raping a woman at an address in the town more than two years later.

The court heard that father-of-one McCutcheon maintained that he was innocent of the crimes and claimed that the second woman had consented to intercourse.

He told the writer of a background report that he could not understand why two women should independently allege that he committed similar offences.

Description

A PORT man convicted of raping two women he was friends with has been jailed for six years. David McCready, 21, raped one woman in his home in 2012 and the other on the waterfront in Greenock in 2014. He was accused of raping another woman at his flat in 2014, but that charge was found not proven. Judge Kenneth McIver ordered McCready to be monitored for a year after his release and placed on the Sex Offenders Register. At the High Court in Glasgow, the judge told McCready: "You raped two young women, both of them friends of yours before the offences. "You used that to take sexual advantage. In the case of your second victim you had already been accused of the rape by two young women by that point. "Friendship transformed into sexual violence. You simply decided sex was going to take place and carried that out with no regard to the feelings or wishes of your two victims." The judge added: "You have expressed no remorse for your actions and say you are the victim of false allegations by your victims.' McCready was convicted of raping his first victim in October 2012 and the second on November 16 in 2014.

Description

Now goes by the name Matthew Sweeney

A Linnvale has been put on the sex offenders register for 30 months for taking photos of children.

Gideon Currie, 20, of Kirkwood Avenue, had previously admitted taking or permitting to be taken or making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of two children on November 12 last year at his home.

At his sentencing on Tuesday at Dumbarton Sheriff Court, Sheriff William Gallacher sentenced Currie to a community payback order.

It will include 30 months of supervision and 100 hours of unpaid work in the community within the next six months and his listing on the register for sex offenders.

Description

Sick Stanley Gibbs, 35, set up devices to film his female friend - who trusted him like family - in her Glasgow flat without her knowing.

He then uploaded various pictures, including naked photos of her getting out of the shower, on to the internet.

Using the username Psycho Stan he wrote that he got sexual gratification from the pictures and that she had no idea she was being filmed.

But, he was snared when a concerned friend of the girl spotted the pictures on the internet.

Gibbs, from Erskine, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to using electronic devices to record the female in a state of undress.

He also admitted uploading indecent footage of her on to the internet and recording her without her knowledge between October 2012 and June 2014.

Yesterday sheriff Andrew Mackie jailed Gibbs for 12 months, reduced from 18 because of his guilty plea.

He told Gibbs: Your behaviour as you know was deplorable and appalling.

It was a gross breach of trust and it was a gross invasion of your victim. The sheriff also put Gibbs on the Sex Offenders register for 10 years and granted a non-harassment order for the same length of time.

The court heard Gibbs and the female had been friends for a number of years and that he regularly visited the flat where she stayed.

In June, last year, a friend of the woman was online when they came across various pictures and recognised her from them.

Procurator fiscal depute Claire Whyte said there was a number of still images that showed the female in a state of undress.

She said Perhaps in the process of getting changed. She added that there was also pictures showing the female getting out of the bath and shower.

Knowing that the victim - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - was uncomfortable with having her picture taken, her friend thought it would be out of character to allow pictures of this nature to be online.

The person who uploaded the images used the name Psycho Stan and claimed that the girl was unaware they had been taken.

The friend saved everything that they found on to a USB stick and contacted the girl to advise her she should leave her flat.

The police were then alerted and a search warrant was granted for Gibbs house.

Miss Whyte told the court that when officers arrived Gibbs said Whatever you need I will give you.

He was detained and interviewed by police before being cautioned and charged.

Electronic equipment was seized including a laptop, hard drive, mobile phone and tablet, as well as a digital camera.

They were analysed and 60,000 moving images found which were taken covertly.

The court heard much of the footage was of day to day business, as well as indecent footage captured.

It was heard that the girl was shocked and disgusted and that "she trusted the accused like family.

Defence lawyer Neil McCulloch said his client has shown genuine remorse for his victim.

He said Gibbs accepts his crimes were unacceptable and inexcusable.

Description

A man who raped a young girl during years of abuse has been jailed for three years and four months. Connor Greer, 22, pleaded guilty to rape and two charges of lewd and libidinous conduct between 2003 and 2011 at houses in Glasgow. The High Court in Glasgow heard how he began abusing the girl when she was aged seven and raped her when she was 14 or 15. Police were called after she told a friend who then alerted a teacher. Jailing him, judge Lord Turnbull told Greer: "It is obvious that your conduct caused enormous stress on the young victim in her teenage years. "It is also obvious that the conduct is of such a serious nature and harmful form that a custodial sentence is the only disposal." Repeat attacks The court heard the attacks repeatedly occurred at houses in Glasgow's southside area. The abuse would often happen at night when Greer would "change". The victim did not disclose what was happening - but in 2012 she told a friend which eventually led to police getting involved. Euan Dow, defending, said Greer, from the city's Pollok area, was "unable to provide any explanation" for what went on. At a previous hearing he was also placed on the sex offenders' register.

Description

Evil rapist Jonathan Mallon has been jailed for life after a 13 year reign of terror over vulnerable women. The creep met his victims at church events and raped two in public places, including a swimming pool changing room and the toilet of a busy cinema.

A vicious pervert was branded a “monster” yesterday as he was handed a life sentence for a campaign of terror that lasted 13 years.

Jonathon Mallon raped five women and sexually abused a sixth during a string of horrific offences that took place between December 1999 and March 2013.

One of his victims was a 21-year-old woman who was raped at addresses in Paisley, Renfrew and Greenock.

Mallon also forced a 31-year-old woman to perform a sex act on him at a Paisley house.

He was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow after a lengthy trial.

Mallon, 32, raped one of his victims in a cinema toilet and another was attacked in a changing cubicle at a busy swimming pool.

Each of his victims – who are now aged between 21 and 31 – was described as “vulnerable”.

Jailing Mallon for life and ordering him to spend at least 10 years behind bars before being able to apply for parole, judge Bill Dunlop QC told him: “This was a course of conduct that can only be described as monstrous.

“These offences were carried out against six women, each of whom was vulnerable in one way or another.

“It’s clear that you saw women who were vulnerable and ruthlessly exploited them for your own sexual gratification.

“The evidence all spoke of you meeting them and, at first, you charmed them, then very quickly became controlling.”

Judge Dunlop said Mallon’s victims had been left “devastated” by what happened to them.

He added: “The distress of your victims at the time must have become obvious to you and you simply ignored that.”

Prosecutor Kath Harper told the court keen churchgoer Mallon has previous convictions for domestic abuse, violence, carrying a knife and fire-raising.

Mallon met two of his victims at church, while another was ‘chatted up’ on a bus.

He met the others at parties.

One victim, aged 21, said Mallon would demand sex two or three times every day.

She added: “If I said I didn’t want sex, he just didn’t listen. He would say ‘I’m horny’ and just go on and on about wanting sex.

“I would try to push him away but he was just too strong.”

Another victim, who is 26, told the court how Mallon raped her in a cubicle at Scotstoun Swimming Baths, in Glasgow, while families with young children were nearby.

She said: “The place was really full of kids. I said ‘no’ and he told me ‘You know what will happen, don’t create a scene’.

“I said ‘you can’t, not here’ and he just told me to shut up.

“Afterwards, he said ‘do you know what I’ve just done to you? I’ve raped you.’

“It kind of looked like he was gloating.”

A third victim is now dead but statements she gave to police were read out in court.

She told how Mallon raped her in the gents’ toilets at the Odeon cinema, in Renfield Street, Glasgow.

The woman said: “I told him to stop, that I didn’t want to do it in the toilet, but he just kept going.”

In her statement to police, she also said Mallon forced her to have sex with a pensioner.

When she complained that the old man was dirty and smelly, Mallon bathed him and then told her to have sex.

The woman also said Mallon raped her after she became pregnant.

In evidence, Mallon denied all of the allegations against him and claimed that any sex had been consensual.

Defence QC Frances McMenamin said Mallon had suffered a horrific childhood and had been the victim of violence himself.

Last night, the Renfrew-based policeman who led the investigation into Mallon’s reign of terror welcomed the life sentence.

Detective Inspector Mark McGowan said: “Hopefully, we have given these women justice.

“Mallon is a calculating individual, who preyed on the vulnerability of his victims – first luring them into a relationship and then carrying out horrific acts on each of them.”