Rapist who put noose round victim’ s neck facing prison

Arapist who put a noose round a woman’s neck and attacked her when she was unconscious is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

John Todd, 34, perpetrated a string of rapes against women in Perth, Angus and Fife during a five-year crime spree.

Judge Lady Haldane told him: “You have been convicted of a series of seven serious sexual offences against women.”

She said Todd’s offending involved “controlling, aggressive and violent behaviour” towards victims.

Todd, formerly of Pomarium Street, Perth, had denied a string of charges during a trial but was found guilty of seven rapes.

He was acquitted of an eighth on a not proven verdict at the High Court in Edinburgh.

One woman told the court she had visited a barn at a small village in Fife with Todd.

She said: “There was a rope hanging from the middle beam.”

She said Todd kissed her but added: “I can’t really remember anything after that.

“All I remember is waking up with the rope round my neck and my hands were tied.

“I had my top and my bra on but my pants and trousers were down at my ankles.

“I was standing with my hands above my head and the noose around my neck.”

The 24-year-old woman said she was sore and Todd was pulling up his trousers.

Todd was convicted of assaulting and raping her between July 2019 and March last year at the village, restricting her breathing with the noose and leaving her unconscious. He was also found guilty of raping the woman at a hotel in Kirkcaldy on August 17 2019 when he threw her onto a bed and restrained her.

She pleaded with him to stop, telling the court: “I said he had raped me and I was going to go to the police.

“He begged me not to and he basically said he was going to get my brother ‘hit’.”

She told advocate depute David Dickson she was left feeling scared by Todd’s claim.

Another woman told the court she was raped by Todd at new year after he claimed he was continuing a “family tradition”.

She said she had met him through an internet dating site and came to realise as well as drinking, he took valium and cannabis.

She agreed to stay at his Perth flat at Hogmanay in 2016 and said that by the time of the bells he was “really hyper”.

She stayed up until 1am but then went to bed.

She said Todd later woke her up and asked for sex, adding: “I said no because I wanted to go to sleep.

“He said it was a family tradition to have sex after the bells. I was still saying no to him, then he forced himself on me.”

The 31-year-old told police on another occasion in 2017, at her home in Angus, she went to sleep but woke to find Todd having sex with her.

She said: “I didn’t know at the time it wasn’t okay to have sex with someone when they were sleeping.

“I didn’t know it was a crime.”

A third woman was attacked and raped by Todd in May 2016 at a flat in Perth when he pulled her to the floor and pulled down her lower clothing.

After the jury returned its verdicts the court heard that although Todd had previous convictions, he had never served a prison sentence before.

He was placed on the sex offenders register and remanded in custody for the preparation of a background report before sentencing next month.

Todd was found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh.