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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Dave Finlay

Edinburgh man attacked vulnerable woman while out on bail for raping a teenager

A violent rapist who carried out a further sex attack after he was freed on bail was Thursday jailed for seven years.

George Newby assaulted and raped a teenager in an ordeal that left her bruised and traumatised at a house in the Craigentinny area of Edinburgh. But after he was released on bail following an initial court appearance Newby struck again within months when he tried to rape another vulnerable woman in the city.

A judge told Newby, 32, at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You have been convicted of the rape of one woman and the attempted rape of another. Both of your victims were truly vulnerable."

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Lord Sandison said: "You continue to maintain your innocence. You display no insight into the consequences of your actions." The judge pointed out that Newby was assessed as posing a high risk of further sexual offending.

Newby, a prisoner, had denied a series of charges during an earlier trial but was found guilty of committing the two sex attacks. During the assault and rape of his first victim on August 8 in 2020 he repeatedly touched the 19-year-old's breasts and buttocks and pinned her down.

The victim said she had tried to resist him and told him 'no' but he pulled down her trousers and underwear. She was later seen in a distressed state after she left the flat where she was attacked and was taken to her mother's home where she revealed she had been assaulted.

Newby subsequently appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court where he was granted bail. But in February last year he attacked again when he preyed on a woman who was asleep and intoxicated at a flat in the Pilton area.

He pulled down her leggings, lay on top of her, pinned her to a bed and exposed himself during the attempted rape. The woman managed to push him off and was later picked up by a taxi driver who noticed that she appeared upset.

Newby maintained that he did not attempt to have sex with the woman and told the court: "She is not my type." Defence counsel Gordon Jackson KC said Newby had no convictions for similar offending and had never been in prison previously.

He said Newby's current partner described him as "a total gentleman" and said: "He is the kindest, loving guy I know." Newby was told that he will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely following his sentencing.

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