A sex offender has been found guilty of raping two teenage girls and of planning to rape a third.
Matthew Watson, 36, was found guilty of three counts of rape, one charge of intent to rape and one count of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices involving a girl under 16 following a week-long trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
He also admitted a further 13 sexual offences relating to several other girls aged between 13 to 16.
Watson – who faced a total of 22 charges at the outset of the trial – preyed on 10 females in Elgin, Inverness and across Moray between 2007 and 2017.
A jury of eight men and seven women took less than two hours to find Watson guilty on all five counts by majority verdict.
Prior to the verdict, Watson pleaded guilty to 10 charges that included the sexual assault of girls he had targeted on social media sites Bebo, Facebook and Instagram.
On Monday, the 36-year-old admitted three charges, including one of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he asked his father to delete his Facebook account over fears that he’d get “nailed” by police.
He also admitted having sex with a girl between September 2012 and September 2013 when she was around 14 or 15 years old.
Victims’ experiences ‘not something they have forgotten’
While delivering his final speech to the jury, advocate depute Craig Murray said the testimony of the young women had “interlocked and fit together like pieces in a jigsaw”.
He added: “The accused had a very consistent modus operandi of finding and befriending girls of 13 to 15 years of age.
“He used various levels of manipulation and, ultimately, force to attain sexual gratification.
“The circumstances in the way the accused gained the trust of the girls and the consistent accounts of the accused using his car to collect girls – often at night – and driving to a secluded place, like a layby, a car park or a remote track.
“These were all girls in their formative years and these are not experiences they have forgotten.”
One woman, now 28, told the court that Watson drove her to a secluded wood between late 2007 or early 2008 and intended to rape her when she was around 14 years old.
Another witness, also now 28, told the jury that on one night between 2008 and 2009 Watson took her for a drive to an isolated pond before exposing himself to her.
Defence counsel Bert Kerrigan QC said the behaviour of his client “can only be described as disgraceful and distasteful”.
Jury told of rapist’s previous convictions
Upon delivering a verdict of guilty, the jury was then told of Watson’s previous convictions.
The 36-year-old was convicted of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a child on May 25 2009 and of possessing indecent images of children on August 3 2015.
He was also convicted of stalking on August 18 2016.
Prior to the trial, Watson was in custody for breaches of a sexual prevention order.
Judge Lord Richardson told Watson: “You have heard the verdict of the jury.
“You have been found guilty of five charges and pled guilty to a further 13 charges.”
He added that in light of his previous convictions and the number of women involved in the trial he would defer sentence until January 2022 in order to obtain a criminal justice social work report.
Lord Richardson also placed Watson, of Elgin, on the sex offenders’ register.
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