A rapist who carried out a catalogue of abuse and violence against victims over nearly two decades has been jailed.
John Fox brutalised women and children at various addresses in Aberdeen between 1985 and 2002.
As he was jailed for 12 years at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, a judge said the sentence reflected the “atrocious and sometimes cruel conduct” carried out against three women and three children.
Fox was previously found guilty of 21 charges of physical and sexual violence, including two charges of rape involving one woman and four charges of rape against a second victim – one of which was committed when she was pregnant.
The 58-year-old was acquitted of further rape charges after the trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Fox attacked the first victim by hitting her with a mug, punching her and throttling her. He also restrained her and raped her at a house in the city.
He also attacked a four-year-old girl, slapping and punching her before lifting her off the ground by her neck.
In another incident, he threw a knife at a three-year-old girl, and slapped and hit her. He also tried squeezed another young boy by the neck and slapped, punched and kicked him.
Fox, of Kingswells, Aberdeen, throttled a second woman in 1991 and kneed her in the stomach while she was pregnant.
Two years later, he repeatedly punched and slapped a third woman before he raped her. He later raped her again while she was pregnant, and also indecently assaulted her.
In April 2002, he attacked a 14-year-old boy and throttled him before stamping on his head and punching him.
Judge Lord Uist jailed Fox for 12 years yesterday, and put him on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
He told him: “You now have to pay the price for the deplorable crimes you committed all those years ago.”
Speaking after sentence, Detective Sergeant Ryan Morris said: “This case, and today’s sentencing, shows how important it is for victims of any kind of abuse to come forward when they feel able to. It doesn’t matter how much time has elapsed, allegations will be investigated thoroughly, and perpetrators will be brought to justice, regardless of the passage of time.”
