A serial rapist who killed family pets to exert control over women has been jailed for 15 years.
Former bouncer Paul Hill, 55, was convicted of raping four women and physically assaulting eight.
His horrific crimes took place in both Dundee and Aberdeen.
At the High Court in Glasgow judge Lord Mulholland told Hill: “You used coercive and controlling behaviour. You abused and belittled them. You harmed their pets as a way of punishing them.
“Your behaviour was cruel and despicable.”
‘These women are stronger than you thought’
Lord Mulholland told Hill: “These women are stronger than you thought and it was their evidence which will put you behind bars for a long time.”
Hill was ordered to be monitored in the community for three years after his release from jail.
The sadistic monster drowned one woman’s pet parakeet, killed another’s kitten, threw a third girlfriend’s cat out of a window, and threatened to harm his own Alsatian when a fourth woman told him she was leaving him.
Hill denied committing a string of sexual and violent offences against former partners in Dundee and Aberdeen over a 22-year period and claimed any sex was consensual.
He claimed he acted in self-defence when he strangled a 59-year-old grandmother at a Christmas party until her face turned purple after drunkenly shouting: “I’m a killing machine.”
Hill described as ‘psycho’
His victims said that Hill was an evil “psycho” who verbally abused, beat, strangled and raped them. One said he attacked her after she put a CD in his alphabetically arranged collection in the wrong place.
One terrified mum-of-two sobbed as she told how she took her children to her mum’s after she caught Paul Hill having sex with another woman in their bed.
Later he phoned threatening to kill the family’s 18-year-old pet parakeets if she didn’t return.
She said: “I went home later on that night because I knew he wasn’t in the house.
“The kids went into the house and they saw there was only one bird in the cage. They found the other parrot drowned in the kitchen sink.
“He drowned it, because the sink was filled up with water.”
‘He looked like he was possessed’
The 38-year-old said that Hill hit her “more than once a day”. She said he was charming at first but then completely changed.
She said: “He became evil, losing his temper all the time, nasty and drinking. His eyes would glaze over and he looked like he was possessed.”
She said she was repeatedly raped, beaten and abused by Hill. Once, she said, when she failed to cook a steak to his liking, he stabbed her in the back of the hand with a serrated knife leaving a scar.
Another ex-girlfriend told how Hill wrecked the Tayside apartment he shared with her after she left him because of his violent behaviour.
She said. “I had a kitten. It was only a little wee kitten. He killed my kitten.”
The woman, a 32-year-old B&B manager, said that several times when she’d said ‘no’ to sex Hill started to strangle her.
She said: “His whole face – his eyes – would change, He was like a completely different person. His eyes would go really dark. He just looked really evil.”
Hill was also convicted of throwing another woman’s cat out of the window of a flat in Aberdeen.
Hill, who appeared in court via a video link, was placed on the sex offenders’register.
Police welcome sentencing of beast
Police Scotland have welcomed the sentence handed down to Hill.
Detective Inspector Caine McIntyre, of the force’s Domestic Abuse Task Force, said: “Paul Hill committed domestic abuse offences for nearly three decades across the length and breadth of Scotland.
“His offending was a sustained campaign of physical and sexual abuse against his victims. He has shown himself to be an extremely violent and dangerous man who will now have to face the consequences of his actions.
“This sentence sends out a clear message that domestic abuse crimes will not be tolerated and will be robustly investigated by Police Scotland.
Paul Hill sentenced for serious domestic abuse offences
Police Scotland has today, Friday, 29 January, 2021 welcomed the sentencing of an Ayr man at the High Court in Glasgow following a series of sexual abuse offences committed over a 22-year period.https://t.co/7k64HTbyAH pic.twitter.com/oBSiMmS9fh
— Tayside Police (@TaysidePolice) January 29, 2021
“I would like to thank the victims in this case for the courage, strength and dignity they have shown throughout this investigation and subsequent court case.
“I hope that today’s sentencing provides them with some closure which will allow them to move on with their lives.”
Detective Superintendent Debbie Forrester, of the Domestic Abuse Task Force, added: “Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for Police Scotland and we are committed to working with our partners to reduce the harm it causes and ultimately eradicate it.
“Domestic abuse is a despicable and debilitating crime which affects all of our communities and has no respect for age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
“Police Scotland will proactively target perpetrators and will support victims to prevent domestic abuse from damaging the lives of those affected and their families.”
