A high risk predator from Fife who brutalised women and a child over 15 years has been given a life sentence.
Ryan Harrower, 35, began targeting victims for abuse when he was still a teenager.
He went on to sexually assault and rape women and subjected a young girl to a rape ordeal.
A judge told Harrower the conclusion of a detailed and thorough expert report prepared on him was that he does or will present “a high risk”.
Lord Lake said he was satisfied in the circumstances that an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) should be made in the case.
The judge ordered the sex offender should serve a minimum term of five-and-a-half years imprisonment.
He told Harrower he would not be automatically released at the end of that term.
Under the indeterminate sentence of an OLR his release will be for parole authorities to decide, taking into account public safety.
Offending began at age 17
Harrower had denied a series of crimes at a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but was convicted of nine offences, including rape, indecent assault, assault to danger of life and threatening or abusive behaviour.
His offending began in 2007 when he was aged 17 and he began perpetrating assaults against a woman at houses in Glenrothes and Cupar, continuing over a five-year period.
During the attacks he sat on the victim and punched her on the head, struck her on the head with a bottle, pushed and pulled her and pinned her against a wall and throttled her, restricting her breathing.
Harrower shouted and swore, used abusive language towards her and punched doors at an address in Cupar.
He also repeatedly molested his victim while she was asleep and unable to consent.
Axe attack
A second woman was also assaulted by Harrower, including when she was pregnant, during a spate of violence directed at her between 2016 and 2019 at addresses in the Cupar area.
During the assaults he struck the woman with a bottle and an axe, punched her on the head and seized her by the neck
Harrower also repeatedly acted aggressively towards her, shouting and swearing and threatening violence.
He also subjected the woman to a violent rape on an occasion between August 1 and September 30 in 2019 when he produced a knife, hit her head off a wooden counter, chased her, repeatedly punched her on the head and pushed her onto a bed.
On sex offenders register indefinitely
He also subjected a girl to abuse that escalated into rape in 2019 and 2020 at an address in Glenrothes.
Her torment began when she was aged seven and included Harrower grabbing her by the head and hair and forcing her into sex acts.
His offending came to an end in April 2022 when he attacked another woman at an address in Laurieston, Falkirk and grabbed her, pinned her to the ground and seized her by the hair.
Defence counsel Mark Stewart KC said Harrower has never previously served an extensive period in prison and told the court: “He is someone who has stabilised in a custodial setting.”
Harrower, who has been in custody since April 2022, was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
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