A former prison officer was jailed for 10 years after a cruel con in which he posed as a woman online to lure vulnerable young men to sex attacks.
Garry McDonald raped two victims – one from Fife – after posing as a teenage university student using a fake persona and picture on a dating forum.
A judge told McDonald: “You used this fiction to persuade two vulnerable young men to meet you.”
Lord Boyd of Duncansby said he carried out “a carefully planned course of criminal conduct designed to lure young men into having sex without their consent”.
He said it was clear the targeting of vulnerable young men and the degree of deception and grooming involved in the offending meant he posed a considerable risk.
The judge ordered McDonald, 42, to be kept under supervision for a further two-year period.
McDonald, formerly of Teviot Street, Falkirk, had denied a series of charges but was found guilty of five offences – two of rape and three of sexual communications while pretending he was a female called Claire.
He attacked his first victim on February 23, 2019, detained him at his family home and raped him.
He raped his second victim at the man’s home in a nearby town on May 16, 2019.
Attacked man from Fife
The first victim, now aged 26, told police during an interview he has learning difficulties and memory problems.
He said he had met a person on a dating website with a female name and saw a picture of the girl, who was about his age.
They began communicating through texts and he travelled from his home in Fife to a meeting at an Asda store in Falkirk.
He said the plan was to go somewhere to eat but when he turned up at the store for the date he was approached by a man in his 40s who told him he was “Claire”.
He said: “I think I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. The panic started to set in.”
The man told him they were going back to his place, leaving him feeling uncomfortable.
He told officers: “I didn’t know what to expect.”
He said the man was talking to him about “kissing and all that”.
He said he did not want to have sex but was told he would be doing it.
At McDonald’s address he was told to take his clothes off and pushed onto a bed and raped.
Second victim co-erced into sex
The second man, aged 24, was also in contact with “Claire”, who held out the prospect of a sexual relationship on condition he have sex with a male.
McDonald turned up at his home and raped him after telling him Claire would be unhappy if he did not comply with his instructions.
The man said: “He just kept saying Claire won’t be happy if you don’t do it.
“I said I don’t want to do it.”
He said the attacker did not use a condom and was asked what was said when it finished.
He replied: “He said: ‘Claire would be happy’.”
Previous offence
Shop manager McDonald was previously jailed for 54 months for taking illegal drugs into Addiewell jail, in West Lothian, when he was a prison officer.
Defence counsel Thomas Ross QC said: “He comes from an extremely supportive background.”
McDonald was placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely at Edinburgh High Court.
