A religious right-wing fanatic has been given a seven-year jail term for violently raping a woman and sexually assaulting her teenage daughter.
Michael Coyle, 40, humiliated his 39-year-old victim by using a craft knife to carve the word “s***” into her thigh; “w****” into her arm; “old” and “saggy” on her breasts, and the letters “FAT” across her stomach.
The High Court in Livingston heard how the ex-serviceman rubbed the woman’s face against a rough wall leaving a burn-like mark on her cheek.
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He was also found guilty of wilfully ill-treating her children by forcing them to stand in a cold dark room for hours and of assaulting two of her sons by presenting a knife at them and hitting one of them on the face.
On Friday, Coyle, of Livingston, West Lothian, observed proceedings at the High Court in Edinburgh via videolink. The court heard that Coyle has strong religious beliefs.
He watched as Judge Alison Stirling told him that she had no other option but to send him to jail. Making reference to a report detailing Coyle’s background, judge Stirling said: “Your religious beliefs are important to you.
“However, custody is the only appropriate disposal having regard to the serious nature of your offending.”
Coyle stood in the Glasgow South constituency for the far right wing British National Party for at the Westminster Parliament elections in 2010. He also stood as National Front candidate to become a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Linlithgow constituency.
Coyle’s victim gave evidence against him during his trial. She told jurors of how she was “on a stopwatch” any time she wasn’t in his company and would be subjected to violence if he thought she hadn’t returned to him in time.
She told of how Coyle raped her after accusing her of cheating on him after one night out. She told the court: “He was saying things like ‘This is what you want isn’t it, you little s***? This is what you wanted all night.’
“He kicked me in the stomach and then he told me to get back through to bed. I thought ‘That’s over’, but it wasn’t over.”
She went on: “He pushed me backwards onto the couch. He started doing that thing with his penis again saying that’s what I wanted and I was going to get it – I was going to get my wish.
“He started pushing my legs apart with his knees and I screamed but he just covered my mouth. I was on my back on the couch and he was pushing his forearm down into my face. He put himself inside me and he didn’t stop until he was finished. I couldn’t fight back.”
She said she once tried to flee from him half naked but he rugby tackled her to the floor shattering her teeth so badly she lost four on one side of her mouth and two on the other.
Her daughter, now aged 18, testified that the car bodyshop worker sexually assaulted her when she was around 12 or 13 years-old. She told how she woke up and found him straddling her, naked from waist down, and attempting to insert his penis into her mouth.
On Friday, defence advocate Mark Stewart KC told the court that his client had a good “working” record. He also said: “Mr Coyle is a man who achieved academically at school. He then left school and he joined the military.”
Judge Stirling said she had no other option but to send him to prison.
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