A rapist who was found to have carried out a violent and degrading assault was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh for seven and a half years.

Lord Mackay of Drumadoon made an Order for Lifelong Restriction on Graham Brown after he pled guilty to assault with intent to rape.

On sentencing Lord Mackay made the following statement in court:

“During October 2003, you were convicted in Glasgow High Court on a charge of rape. An extended sentence with a custodial element of 6 years and an extension period of 3 years was imposed. 4 years later, on 29 October 2007, you were released from prison having served 4 years of the 6 years custodial part.

Within 8 months of your early release from prison, you committed the very serious offence of assault with intent to rape that has brought you back before the High Court.

When you first appeared before me in connection with the present case, the Advocate Depute provided the Court will full details of what happened during the course of the assault you carried out. It was clear from what the Advocate Depute said on that occasion that you subjected your victim to a very violent and degrading assault. That assault was carried out within your victim’s home, which you had entered uninvited. The assault was also aggravated by your use of a knife to threaten your victim and by the nature of the sexual abuse you subjected her to. Mr. Renucci has informed me that you accepted that your behaviour had been reprehensible and repugnant, which it certainly was.

The reports, which have been prepared by a social worker and a forensic psychologist since you pled guilty, make it clear that you pose a high level of risk to the public at large. In particular you constitute a serious risk of sexual re-offending.

Having regard to the terms of the reports before me, I am quite satisfied that this is a case in which I should make an Order for Life Long Restriction. I have reached that conclusion because it is clear from the circumstances of the charge which gave rise to your conviction back in October 2003, and also from the circumstances which gave rise to the present conviction, that were you to be at liberty it is likely you would seriously endanger the physical and psychological well-being of members of the public at large.

It is necessary for me to fix the punishment part in respect of that Order. The punishment part is the minimum period you will require to serve in custody, before the Parole Board could allow your release from custody. That period will require to be served in full. You will not be released early from prison, before that period has run its course. Once you have served that period in custody, it will be for the Parole Board to decide whether, and if so when, you should be allowed to back into the community. When the Parole Board comes to decide whether you should be released, they will no doubt have regard to the extent to which you have cooperated with and benefited from the efforts of the prison staff and others who will assist you to address the problems you face.

In fixing the punishment part I have had regard to all that has been said on your behalf by Mr. Renucci. The period of the punishment part will be one of 7 ½ years. That period will run from today’s date. It will not be backdated to the date on which you first appeared in Court in respect of this case, namely 4 June 2008. That is because, on the same date, you were recalled to prison to serve the outstanding balance of your previous sentence. As of today’s date you are still serving the custodial part of that earlier sentence.

Had you not pled guilty to the charge you faced, the punishment part would have been one of 9 years”.