A sinister Fife sex predator snatched a schoolgirl off the street and subjected her to a horrific catalogue of rape and abuse during a 32-hour ordeal.
Mark Armstrong kidnapped his 15-year-old victim as she returned home from netball practice and warned her he had a flick knife and he would use it if she tried to flee or scream for help.
Armstrong, 26, subjected her to a brutal prolonged sex attack in the grounds of a derelict cottage.
He asked the teenager if she had had intercourse before raping her as she lay in thorns, ignoring her desperate pleas to stop.
Armstrong then led the girl back to his home in Dunfermline and continued to subject her to sexual abuse and rape. The victim later said it happened “over and over again”.
The 15-year-old was eventually found in Lochore Meadows in the early hours of March 14.
Advocate depute Jane Farquharson told the High Court in Edinburgh: “The accused only spoke to tell her what to do, to shut up or stop shivering.”
She added: “The victim describes feeling scared and increasingly angry and that she just wanted to go home.”
Adding to her torment, Armstrong even took her back to the scene of the original rape after saying she could go home but then took her back to his house to renew the sexual assaults.
The victim’s mother had reported her missing after searching for her daughter. Police who were searching the derelict cottage found some of her possessions and informed her mother.
Only hours later did unemployed Armstrong finally free his captive and return her phone. The girl later told police: “I just wanted to call my mum.”
The victim was able to describe a wheel at the entrance to Lochore Meadows country park and was reunited with her mother.
Miss Farquharson said her mother described seeing “a little figure standing next to the wheel”. She added: “It didn’t look like her daughter she said because (the figure) was so small.”
Police who arrived at the scene described seeing the mother hugging the girl who was “shaking, crying and occasionally howling”.
The victim had facial injuries that left her unrecognisable to officers from the photos of her they had been given in the missing person inquiry.
Armstrong, of Macbeth Road, Dunfermline, admitted abducting, assaulting and raping the girl between March 12 and 14 this year.
He also pled guilty to a string of assault and robbery offences committed against women in the Fife town in the days leading up to the attack on the teenager.
Miss Farquharson said the Crown will be seeking an Order for Lifelong Restriction on Armstrong.
A judge told Armstrong: “You have pled guilty to an appalling course of criminal conduct culminating in violent and sexual offences of the utmost depravity against a young girl then aged 15.”
Lady Wise said that as a first stage she would call for a background report on Armstrong with a risk assessment. She placed him on the sex offenders’ register and remanded him in custody.Police praise ‘bravery and courage’ of victimDetective Inspector David Russell, who led the investigation, said: “Today represents the culmination of a lengthy investigation which was assisted greatly by those who were victims to the actions of this depraved individual.
“Thankfully these types of incident are uncommon but when they do occur Police Scotland will take swift action to apprehend those responsible.
“Whilst I pay tribute to all the victims of Armstrong who suffered from his actions, the bravery and courage of the young victim who was subjected to the terrifying ordeal was outstanding. It is due to the detail and clarity of evidence she was able to provide that her abuser was traced and taken into custody.
“The actions of Armstrong have caused devastation to his victims and their wider family. The victims request that they now be left in peace to move forward and rebuild their lives.”