Appeal Court judges have thrown out a Fife father-of-four’s rape conviction appeal.
Michael Whorlton, of Barry Road, Kirkcaldy, broke down at the High Court in Edinburgh after he was found guilty of rape, indecent assault and underage sex offences, in December last year.
The 27-year-old then sobbed in the dock a month later at Glasgow High Court when Lord Beckett sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment for his crimes.
Lawyers acting for Whorlton lodged an appeal against his rape conviction, suggesting evidence led by the Crown from two witnesses about his victim telling them what had happened should have been excluded as “inadmissible hearsay” and its allowance created a miscarriage of justice.
However, three Appeal Court judges led by Lord Malcolm have rejected that appeal.
Whorlton was found guilty of raping a woman at a house in the Thornliebank area of Glasgow in May 2014.
He was also convicted of indecently assaulting a woman when she was aged 16 and was also found guilty of having unlawful intercourse with a 15-year-old girl at addresses in Anstruther and Kirkcaldy in 2010.
A jury in Edinburgh convicted him of seven charges in total, including rape, indecent assault as well as placing two of the women in a state of fear and alarm.
Lord Beckett said the offences involved “horrible and degrading” conduct.
Whorlton was also placed on the sex offenders register and will be subject to three years’ supervision upon his eventual release.
