An ex-serviceman from Fife was jailed for six years after attacking and raping a woman and subjecting a second to repeated assaults and abuse.
Craig Marshall threatened to rape his first victim, before carrying through his vile threat after she was pushed and fell to the floor at a house in Fife.
Marshall, 34, throttled a second woman during attacks on her at addresses in Fife, during which he placed a snake on her body.
He also subjected the woman to a car trip during which he drove at excessive speed, while drinking.
Marshall, formerly of Kirkcaldy, also threatened to reveal intimate images of the woman to others.
He denied a series of charges during an earlier trial but was convicted of five offences, including assault, rape and abusive conduct committed between March 2007 and August 2021
Judge Norman McFadyen told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “These were serious and unpleasant offences committed against women.
“They disclose an attitude of denial and victim blaming.”
Rape and assaults
The court heard Marshall began offending while still a teenager when he assaulted a woman between March 2007 and December the following year.
During the attacks he tried to punch her, grabbed her by the hair, seized her by the throat, pushed her against a wall and threatened her.
Marshall went on to carry out a sex attack on the woman in July 2010 after she fell.
He knelt on her arms, threatened to rape her and raped her.
He carried out further assaults on his second woman between July 2015 and December 2018 when she was kicked, pulled by the hair, throttled and had a knife put against her neck.
He also rubbed food on the woman’s face and pushed her out of a house.
Marshall also shouted and swore at her and subjected her to abusive remarks and threats of violence, as well as breaking phones and furniture.
In 2021 Marshall posted videos on social media in which he swore and made threats against both women.
Iraq service
Defence counsel Edward Targowski KC said during his military career Marshall served “under combat” in Iraq, which resulted in mental health problems.
Marshall was ordered to be under supervision in the community for a further three-year period, when he can be returned to prison if he breaches licence conditions.
He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period.
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