PREDATOR JAILED FOR RAPING GIRL,11
Beast lured child into his car after grooming her online then left her in tears with disgusting sex attack
A DEVIOUS pervert who groomed an 11-year-old girl before raping her in his car was jailed for eight years yesterday.
A judge told former Inland Revenue worker Ross Muir, 36, that he was a predator who had known his victim was underage.
The rapist denied his guilt, forcing the child to give evidence. He has shown no remorse.
Muir raped the girl in October 2015 after grooming her while posing as a child her age.
She revealed during her evidence that she had been sent a mobile phone image of a man’s private parts.
Muir persuaded the girl to leave her home in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, and meet him. But instead of a child, she found “a grown-up” sitting in a Vauxhall car.
The accused told her to get in and drove off. He then parked near her home and attacked her.
Muir kissed the child, exposed himself to her, made her perform a sex act on him then pushed her into the back seat and raped her.
She told the trial the attack left her weeping and in pain, and she was crying when she got home.
When police went to speak to the victim, they found her “very distressed”.
Muir was identified at the attacker and police found DNA matching his on the girl’s body and clothing. She picked him out in a photo ID parade.
But despite the overwhelming evidence, he continued to deny his guilt.
Muir’s then partner told the court she spoke to him in the phone after police detained him.
He told her the girl had pretended to be older and had used a fake profile picture – possibly of her sister – when they got in contact online.
Muir, of Musselburgh, East Lothian, was convicted this week and sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Lord Boyd jailed him and put him on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
He said Muir had apparently been taking legal highs at the time but it was not clear if they were a factor in his offences.
Simon Gilbride, defending, said Muir still protested his innocence. He was a first offender assessed as a moderate risk of reoffending.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin MacLean, of Edinburgh’s Public Protection Unit, said later: “This was a significant and serious case where an older man used social media to pretend to be someone he was not.
“He made out he was the same age as his victim to take advantage of her youth and innocence.”
Mr MacLean said Muir put the girl through a harrowing ordeal and the effects were likely to be with her for life.
He added: “I would once again like to commend her courage in coming forward and giving evidence.”
He told parents to make sure they knew what their kids were doing online.