Search results for Stirling

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A man has been sentenced to nine years in prison following a series of sexual and violent offences in Glasgow.

Iain Robertson, 45, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, 23 July, 2026. 

He was previously found guilty of the offences, including rape and assault, between 2004 and 2019, at the High Court in Glasgow on 23 June, 2026. 

Detective Inspector Lyndsay Laird said:

“Robertson subjected the victims to years of horrific abuse, causing lasting trauma and having a profound impact on their lives.

"Violence and abuse of any kind have no place in society and we remain committed to supporting victims and bringing those responsible to justice.

"I would encourage anyone who has experienced sexual abuse or violence to report it to police. Every report will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated." 

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A Stirling man faces a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of raping two women in the city.

The court heard from one of Liam Kaney’s victims – 18 at the time – who said she had been “mentally and physically tortured”.

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A church pastor who sexually assaulted a female churchgoer under the pretence of "removing demons" from her body has been jailed for 10 years.

Walter Masocha, 61, groped the married woman at his home in Stirling, claiming he was a "gift from god".

The former University of Stirling lecturer also attempted to rape another woman during a campaign of abuse from 2006 to 2012.

Walter Masocha was found guilty at the High Court in Livingston on Wednesday, 2 July, 2025, of a number of sexual offences, including attempted rape, committed against two women between January 2006 and July 2012. He was sentenced at the same court on Monday, 28 July.

Detective Sergeant David Brown said:

"Masocha's abhorrent actions have caused lasting harm, and he will now be held to account for them in prison.

"We hope this sentencing provides the women affected with some sense of closure and helps them in moving forward with their lives.

"I would encourage anyone who has experienced sexual abuse to report it. Every report is taken seriously and will be fully investigated, and support will be provided by our specially trained officers and partner agencies."

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A Stirling creep who secretly photographed a teenage girl as she bent over her schoolbag had been engaging in sickening chats with other perverts.

Gerard Deery had three images of the girl – who was known to him but not related – plus one of her friend, hidden in a locked folder on his phone.

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A man who raped a 15-year-old girl after following her on a street in Stirlingshire has been jailed for nine years.

Sadeq Nikzad, 29, targeted the girl in Falkirk town centre in October 2023.

Nikzad, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, repeatedly requested her telephone number, uttered sexual remarks then led her into a courtyard where he raped her.

At the High Court in Livingston, Judge Morris told him it was an "extremely serious sexual offence" and said he would be deported after his sentence.

The court heard that Nikzad had entered the UK illegally two years before the attack.

Defence counsel Janice Green told the court there were language difficulties and a "cultural barrier" between Nikzad's home country where child marriage was common.

She said: "I'm not suggesting that means that he reasonably believed (the complainer) was consenting, but that there's a reason why he could have misunderstood."

Harrowing attack

Passing sentence, Judge Morris said: "I appreciate that you don't accept that you've done anything wrong, but the fact remains that you've been convicted of an extremely serious sexual offence against a child.

"I know your counsel has now explained to you that in those circumstances only a substantial custodial sentence is appropriate."

Police Scotland's Det Insp Forbes Wilson said it was "a particularly harrowing attack carried out during daylight in a busy town centre".

He said: "Nikzad's heinous actions had a profound effect on his young victim and I would like to commend her strength throughout this ordeal."

After his jail term Nikzad will be supervised on license for three years.

A non-harassment order banning Nikzad from contacting or attempting to contact the victim was also granted indefinitely.

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A sheriff told a Stirling paedophile “I’m prepared to make your life very difficult”.

Mark Pentith sent vile messages to undercover police, believing he was chatting to a 13-year-old girl.

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A Stirling paedophile who engaged in sickening chats with a “14-year-old girl” was posting under the username “MarriedFather”.

David MacKay, 32, believed he was talking to a teenager called Sophie but he was actually being snared by an undercover police officer.

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A Stirling sex offender played dumb when police searched his home, claiming not to know the password to a secret child abuse cache on his phone.

Ian Couper’s home was raided by police who examined his  phone.

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A 35-year-old man has been jailed for 16 years after subjecting numerous women to violent and sexual abuse.
 
Luke Ford was sentenced today at the High Court in Edinburgh and will also be placed on the Sex Offenders Register. 
 
He is also the first person to be convicted of ‘stealthing’ in Scotland. He told women he was having sex with that he was using a condom when in fact he was deceiving them. 

Luke Ford came to the attention of police in June 2020 after officers attended an address in Edinburgh following a report of an assault.
 
An investigation was subsequently launched with officers discovering Ford had targeted several other women over an extended period.
 
Through enquiries, officers meticulously built a case against him, and he was arrested and charged in February 2021.
 
In May 2023 he was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of numerous offences, including rape, attempted rape, multiple assaults and being in possession of extreme sexual abuse images.
 
Detective Inspector Steven Gray said: “Ford is a dangerous and manipulative sexual predator. I would like to acknowledge how hard this has been for those involved and to also tell them that their testimonies vastly contributed to Ford being convicted. I hope that knowing he is now behind bars for his crimes helps them continue to move forward with their lives.

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A pensioner who used a driving lesson to give the 17-year-old learner a vibrator has been jailed and placed on the sex offenders register.

Alexander Bell also repeatedly touched the girl’s leg during lessons, despite her friend also being in the vehicle.

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A Stirling dad was caught with hundreds of sickening child abuse photos and videos, a court has heard.

Police raided Steven Anderson’s home after receiving a tip-off illicit files were being downloaded to his computer.

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Lewis Grant, targeted victims from Edinburgh to Stirling, over a nine-year period. His offending started in 2011 when he had unlawful sex with a 15-year-old in Dumfries.

A man was jailed last week after being found guilty of raping three women in university halls or student flats linked to two Scottish universities – including in Stirling.

Lewis Grant, targeted victims from southern Scotland to Stirling, over a nine-year period. His offending started in 2011 when he had unlawful sex with a 15-year-old in Dumfries, report the Record.

Grant, now 28, went on to commit his first rape, of a student, in her halls at Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, before raping two more women while he was a student at the University of Stirling.

One of the rapes involved BDSM [bondage, domination, sadism and masochism] and two of the rape victims were throttled by Grant to the danger of their lives.

One of them, a student in Stirling, described being lifted off the floor by Grant, a martial arts enthusiast, who had his hands round her neck as her legs dangled and she choked.

Another of his victims was beaten with a riding crop, waterboarded with Prosecco, burned with a blow torch, and choked until she thought she was going to die.

She contacted police with photos of her injuries. Police investigated to see if Grant had any former partners who might also have been raped or abused and Grant was arrested a month later.

Giving evidence from behind a curtain at the High Court in Stirling the victim said she had she agreed to take part in “rougher sex” with Grant and went to his room in Stirling University accommodation in Bridge of Allan.

Grant began to hit her on the head with an open hand, then his fist, before pushing her off the bed onto the floor, pinning her hands above her head, covering her entire face with a cloth, and pouring sparkling wine very slowly and steadily over her mouth and face – while raping her at the same time.

She said: “I was suffocating. The cloth was heavy on my face. I was in such a panic I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to say stop. He continued to pour the Prosecco until the bottle was finished.”

She said Grant then took the cloth off and thrust his fist under her jaw. She then scrambled to the bathroom where she found a tooth had chipped.

She claimed on another occasion, in Grant’s Stirling University bedroom, he had lit a kitchen blowtorch, telling her, “This might be fun to use when you’re not behaving yourself.”

Grant put out the flame, but burned the bare skin of her back with the hot metal of the blowtorch, leaving a 20 pence-sized scar.

She said she decided to break up with Grant after he opened the door of her bathroom – where she had locked herself in – with a large kitchen knife.

At the end of a five week trial, a jury of 14 deliberated for two days before finding Grant, of Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan, guilty of raping the three women, and assaulting two of them to the danger of their lives.

He was acquitted of raping two other women – the jury returning verdicts of not guilty and not proven.

Grant was also found guilty of having sex with the underage child in Dumfries.

Grant, who funded his studies at Stirling by working in a Bridge of Allan restaurant, had denied the offences, claiming all the sex and BDSM was consensual. He said the assault of one of the women whose life he endangered did not take place in the way she described, and had been self defence.

He insisted he could not have performed some of the acts, because a massive hernia had deviated his penis. All of his victims were, or had been, in relationships with him.

Judge Lord Summers deferred sentence until October 26 at the High Court in Edinburgh. He remanded Grant in custody.

He said continuing his liberty would not be appropriate because he had been convicted “of a number of serious sexual offences and assaults”.

Grant was also placed on the sex offenders’ register. Defence counsel Bert Kerrigan KC reserved mitigation.

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A GIFTED schoolboy musician walked scot-free from court despite admitting sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in classroom cupboard. Karl Henderson, 17, described as the most talented musician his school has ever seen, molested the girl at a Stirlingshire high school by touching her bottom and breasts, trying to kiss her and touching himself while holding her against him. Despite pleading guilty to the charge on indictment, Henderson, who was 16 at the time of the assault last year, told police that it was consensual. Sheriff John Mundy took what he called the exceptional step of handing Henderson an absolute discharge, saying he found it hard to determine what actually happened. The decision prompted an angry reaction from the family of the girl, who shouted, dont be molesting any more children as Henderson left the dock at Falkirk Sheriff Court. The incident occurred on January 14 2013 when Henderson and the girl went to a music classroom during one of their lessons. Police detained Henderson on January 16 where he said everything was consensual and denied holding her against her will. Forensic examination showed traces of his semen on her skirt. The girl told police that she had been having nightmares over the incident. Henderson, of Grahamshill Terrace, Fankerton, Denny, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty to the charges. Gordon Addison, defending, said that despite the girl being 15, there was only six months between the pair in age. He said: No school in the local area will take him if he is placed on the sex offenders register. This young man is highly intelligent but his whole life will be disturbed unfairly. Society loses a very talented, very bright young man over a situation that happened in minutes between two teens in a high school cupboard. He has been described as the most talented musician the school has ever had. Sheriff Mundy told Henderson: Im going to take a highly unusual step in the circumstances, I think its an exceptional case. It is one that is brought on indictment which makes it more exceptional. Im going to give you an absolute discharge. Henderson was not placed on the sex offenders register.