A high risk sex attacker from Perth who tightened a noose around a woman’s neck until she blacked out, then raped her, has been jailed.
John Todd’s victim came round in a barn at a small village in Fife to find herself tied up with her trousers and underwear around her ankles.
The woman was one of three victims of a series of sex crimes perpetrated by Todd over a five year period in Perth, Angus and Fife.
Judge Lady Haldane told the 34-year-old: “You were found guilty of seven charges of rape involving three different complainers.
“Many of these offences involved acts of aggression and violence in order to rape these women.”
Sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh, she said: “It was evident from the evidence of the complainers that your actions have caused considerable harm to all of them.”
She said a background report made it clear he took no responsibility for his crimes and continued to deny them.
“Your behaviour in respect of each of these women demonstrated a clear pattern of controlling behaviour,” she said.
She sentenced him to nine and a half years’ imprisonment but said after taking into account lengthy periods spent on remand, he would serve five years and 10 months from Friday.
The judge also ordered that he be kept under supervision for a further three years.
Todd, formerly of Pomarium Street, Perth, was told he will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.
Serial offender
One woman told jurors at his trial she had visited the barn with Todd, where he raped her while she was unconscious, with the noose around her neck.
He also raped the 24-year-old in a hotel in Kirkcaldy.
He was found guilty of both rapes, between July 2019 and March last year and on August 17 2019, respectively.
Another woman, who met Todd on a dating site, told the court she was raped in his Perth flat on New Years Day 2016 as part of what he said was a family tradition of having sex at the turn of the year.
The 31-year-old told police on an occasion in 2017 at her home in Angus she woke to find Todd having sex with her.
A third woman was attacked and raped by Todd in May 2016 at a flat in Perth.
Defence
Defence counsel Andrew Lamb QC said Todd had a difficult background and was in care at a young age.
“He reports having post traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.
“He has accepted he used a variety of drugs to try to deal with that.”
He said Todd has expressed a determination to cooperate with the authorities in offence-related work.
The court heard that Todd had been assessed as posing a high risk of committing further similar offences.
Click here for the full story from the trial.
Police reaction
Detective Sergeant Lauren O’Neil of Fife Division’s Rape Investigation Unit said: “Todd is a predatory and dangerous man who has committed a variety of serious crimes against a number of different women over a protracted period of time.
“It is thanks to the courage of the women who came forward that he has been now been found guilty of his crimes and the cruelty of his behaviour has been exposed.
“I would like to commend the women for their bravery throughout this investigation and court proceedings. Hopefully the verdict today will help them moving forward.”
