Serial rapist who preyed on young girl warned he faces life term.

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A high-risk serial rapist and child molester who left a little girl haunted by nightmares was warned yesterday that he could face a life sentence.

David MacBride, 44, was brought back to Scotland from Spain this year to face justice after failing to turn up for a court hearing in 2016 and fleeing abroad.

Father-of-nine MacBride denied a catalogue of offending against adult women and children during a trial but was found guilty of eight rape crimes and three sexual assaults.

A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have been convicted by the jury of dreadful sexual crimes committed against five females, including two children.”

Lord Uist earlier adjourned the case for the preparation of a background report on MacBride who has never previously served a prison sentence.

Defence solicitor advocate Gordon Martin urged the judge to deal with MacBride by imposing a “substantial” determinate prison sentence and a further period of supervision.

But yesterday Lord Uist ordered the preparation of a full risk assessment order on the predator which can lead to the imposition of an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

The judge told MacBride: “You are currently assessed as posing an unmanageable risk of further analogous offending in the community setting. It is an extremely alarming statement.”

MacBride, formerly of Westwood Avenue, Kirkcaldy, carried out sex assaults on women and children between 2007 and 2014 at addresses in Cardenden, Glenrothes, Burntisland, Kirkcaldy, Methil and Dunfermline, all in Fife during that period. Some women were subjected to multiple rapes.

One 29-year-old woman, who met him when she was a teenager, said she was the victim of sex attacks “more than once”.

A second woman, now aged 44, said MacBride turned up unexpectedly at a flat she had moved into in Glenrothes in 2010 as her partner was in hospital in a coma.

The woman said she was surprised to see him but agreed to let him stay the night while she slept on a couch.

She said she woke up and found MacBride trying to carry out a sexual assault on her.

A girl revealed MacBride had first abused her when she was aged five.

During recorded interviews with the child, now aged 13, she revealed she was having nightmares about MacBride “coming to get us”.

MacBride claimed one of the women was seeking revenge.

Lord Uist ordered that he be remanded in Perth prison for a report to be prepared into the risk his being at liberty poses to the safety of the public.

The case was adjourned until December.

You are currently assessed as posing an unmanageable risk of further analogous offending in the community setting. LORD UIST