Fife man convicted of party rape

A Fife man has been convicted of violently raping a mum of three at a house party.

Gordon Cowan had denied rape and claimed any sexual activity between him and the 27-year-old victim had been consensual.

However, a jury at the High Court in Livingston took less than an hour and a half to convict him of the crime.

Jurors heard that Cowan, 27, struggled with his victim in a bathroom, causing her to fall to the floor and strike her head. He then raped her, grabbed her by the hair and pushed her head against the toilet.

Giving her evidence from behind a screen, the woman said she had been on a night out with two female friends after separating from her husband when Cowan turned up at a party in a flat in Lochgelly.

She said she had drunk a glass of red wine and a bottle of Buckfast during the evening and admitted her memory of the night was “blurry” in parts.

However, she insisted she had a clear memory of Cowan bursting into the toilet of the flat and forcing himself on her.

Cowan, who is currently a prisoner at Perth, claimed the sex on April 22 last year had been consensual and that the alleged victim had been drunkenly flirting with him all night.

The jury returned a majority verdict, finding the rape charge proven.

Judge Lord Uist adjourned the case until May 10 at the High Court in Edinburgh and remanded Cowan in custody.