A high-risk double rapist who preyed on women when they were asleep or unconscious has been jailed for eight years.
Graeme Irving, 34, carried out sex attacks against two victims at addresses in Inverbervie and the Huntly area of Aberdeenshire.
A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh that she acknowledged he had no previous convictions for sex crimes, but pointed out he was assessed as posing a high risk of sexual reoffending.
Judge Fiona Tait said: “Because of the gravity of the offences a custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal in your case.
“You were convicted after trial of two charges of rape and one charge of assault to injury.”
‘Sexual offences had substantial impact on complainers’
The judge said that she had read victim impact statements that spoke of ongoing trauma for the women he attacked.
She said: “These sexual offences are of considerable gravity. They had a substantial impact on each of the complainers”.
The judge also ordered that Irving, who is currently a prisoner, should be kept under supervision for a further two-year period at the end of his jail sentence.
She told Irving that during that period he would be on licence and if he breached its conditions could be returned to prison.
Irving had denied a series of charges at his earlier trial but was found guilty of the two rapes and the assault.
During attacks on his first victim, he struck her on the head and body, pushed her and threw objects at her.
On one occasion when she was pregnant he pushed her and she fell.
Irving also subjected the woman to rape when she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent.
‘A very troubled upbringing’
His second victim was also subjected to rape on an occasion when she had fallen asleep or become unconscious.
The offences were committed between 2013 and 2020.
Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe said Irving now accepted partial responsibility for the assault charge but continued to deny committing the rapes.
He said that Irving, who has a previous conviction for assault, had “a very troubled upbringing” as a child.
Irving was told that as a result of the sentence passed on him he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.
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