A judge has called for a risk assessment on a predatory rapist-turned-armed robber with a view to imposing an extended sentence on him.
The move follows a failure by social workers to interview Steven Banks in prison, which left his victims in tears in court.
Banks, 39, was convicted by a jury last month of raping a 16-year-old girl in his mother’s home in Ballingry in 2011 after forcing her to change into his Rangers top.
The depraved paedophile was also found guilty of repeatedly sexually assaulting and raping another schoolgirl in vehicles in Lochgelly, Cowdenbeath and elsewhere between February 2014 and February 2017, starting when the girl was just 10.
It was only after the jury returned its verdicts it emerged Banks is currently serving a 12-year sentence imposed four years ago for his part in a £6000 robbery in Staffordshire in November 2017.
Following the supermarket raid, for which he provided inside information and took a day off to act as getaway driver, Banks moved back to Scotland so he could care for his poorly mother.
His conviction for robbery was subsequently overtaken by a police investigation into the historical rapes.
Extended sentence probe
Banks was due to be sentenced for the sexual offences at the High Court in Livingston on Tuesday but the court was told no criminal justice background report had been prepared because no social workers had visited him in Perth Prison.
The accused’s name has already been added to the Sex Offenders Register and Scottish Ministers have been notified of his conviction under laws to protect vulnerable groups.
Highlighting problems with the social work report, solicitor advocate Gordon Martin, defending, speculated about reduced staffing levels, holiday absences or social workers “fighting each other to avoid seeing him” because Banks had been brought up from England.
Lord Young told him: “One of the options I have is an extended sentence and I can’t impose an extended sentence unless I have a risk assessment report.
“I can tell you, because of the offending here, an extended sentence is certainly on my radar.
“On that basis I’m not willing to sentence Mr Banks today.
I’m not willing to sentence him until I get all the information I get in a criminal justice social work report.”
The judge adjourned the sentencing hearing until September 13 at Edinburgh High Court.
Banks’ victims, who travelled to court to hear his fate, burst into tears and had to be comforted by relatives and staff from the Crown Office’s victim support unit.
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