A “controlling bully” who raped and sexually assaulted a string of vulnerable women has been jailed for seven years.
Daniel Knight preyed on his three victims at addresses in Aberdeenshire and Moray between June 2015 and December last year.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard yesterday that the 25-year-old still maintained his innocence, despite being convicted of two rapes and an assault with intent to rape after trial.
Advocate depute Kath Harper, prosecuting, said the court had heard evidence Knight was a “controlling bully”.
She added: “It is against that background that he refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer when it comes to sex.”
The court heard that Knight first struck in June 2015 when he attacked a teenager at a house in rural Aberdeenshire.
Despite her telling him to stop, he struggled with her and raped her.
Knight then attacked another woman in the same area in August 2017.
He molested her before struggling with her and raping her.
In December last year, Knight carried out his final attack in Forres.
He exposed himself before assaulting the woman, then pulled her into a bathroom and demanded she carry out a sex act on him.
Knight later told police that he just had a coffee with the woman, but her DNA was found under his fingernails.
Jailing him for seven years, judge Norman McFadyn told Knight he had been convicted of three “serious” sexual offences.
He said: “Each woman was vulnerable in their own way. In each case you took advantage of their vulnerability for your own gratification.”
The judge ordered Knight to be put on a three-year supervision order following his release, and put him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
