A serial sex offender who threatened to shoot a complete stranger then raped her repeatedly has been jailed for life.
Daniel Welsh targeted his victim as she walked to meet a friend for dinner in Aberdeen.
She endured a 90-minute ordeal as he forced her to have sex – having earlier left his pregnant girlfriend so he could “cool off”.
Twenty-two-year Welsh was the subject of a sexual offences prevention order when he attacked the woman in February.
And at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lady Rae imposed an order for lifelong restriction.
Lady Rae described the assault on the 25-year-old woman as “prolonged, vile and depraved”.
The judge added: “Despite her repeated pleas for you to release her from your control, you continued to rape her.
“One cannot even imagine the terror this young woman must have suffered.
“You say you cannot remember the attack. I have concluded that this is an aggravating factor. I have concluded that the risk criteria has been satisfied and that an order for lifelong restriction is an appropriate disposal.”
Welsh, a prisoner at HMP Grampian in Peterhead, admitted abduction and rape charges when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow in June.
Sentence had been deferred for background reports.
Welsh was already a convicted sex offender at the time of the attack and was being monitored by an offender management unit in Aberdeen after being assessed as “very high risk”.
He had also twice breached a court order banning him from going near girls aged under 17.
His victim had gone to meet a friend on the evening of February 3.
Welsh spent the day smoking and playing his XBox. He later claimed to his 17 year-old girlfriend Caroline Donald that he was going to the shops to “cool off”.
The court heard that his victim was walking in Urquhart Road when Welsh grabbed her from behind and said: “Don’t do anything stupid because I am going to shoot you.”
He took her to an isolated area at a nearby cemetery then told her that he wanted to get married in two weeks – but that his bride-to-be had killed herself.
Advocate depute Mark McGuire, prosecuting, said: “The woman described her feelings of fear, but felt she could not run away in case he shot her.”
The victim begged to leave but Welsh went into a rage, ordered her to strip and then raped her.
He then made her walk to a bird observatory about 30 minutes away.
Mr McGuire told the court: “He had previously spoken about the hut and said that if he was ever wanted by the police this is where he would go because it was dark and no one went there.”
He forced the woman to have sex with him on three more occasions.
He eventually told his victim to get dressed and walked with her to Aberdeen FC’s Pittodrie Stadium before fleeing.
The advocate depute said: “He said that he was sorry and that he should not have done what he did.”
The victim went home and texted a friend to say she had been raped. Police were contacted and a major inquiry was launched.
Welsh had gone home and complained to his girlfriend that he had a sore head. He cleaned his clothes and put his trainers in the washing machine.
His partner noticed the next morning he had checked on the internet to read about an attack that had happened the night before.
Welsh was later tracked down at his sister’s house.
His counsel, John Hamilton QC, asked Lady Rae not to impose an order for lifelong restriction and said Welsh had been examined by medical professionals who had not diagnosed him as being a psychopath.
The court also heard that Welsh told doctors he could not remember committing the attack.
The judge ordered him to serve at least four-and-a-half years in prison before the parole board can consider whether he should be released.
