Judge to rule on fate of rapist next week

A high court judge has told lawyers that he wants a week to consider the fate of a notorious serial rapist.

Lord Kinclaven will rule on how long Chan Wright should spend in jail at a hearing in Glasgow next Wednesday.

He made the decision on the second day of proceedings to determine if the 40- year- old Jamaican should be given a life sentence.

Crown Office lawyers say Wright is such a threat to public safety he should be sent to prison indefinitely.

In September 2011, he was found guilty at the High Court in Aberdeen of raping and brutalising t hree women across Scotland over a 15- year period.

He was convicted four years after Court of Session judges stopped him being deported from the UK. They ruled that it was “irrational” to assume that Wright – who also served a jail sentence for raping a teenager at Livingston i n We s t Lothian in 1995 – would reoffend.

Yesterday, Lord Kin- claven heard arguments from Wright's legal team.

They claimed his human rights would be breached if he was given a life sentence and they want the judge to impose an alternative sentence on Wright, who has also been convicted of drug dealing.

On Monday, the court heard evidence which suggested Wright had character traits consistent with being a psychopath.

He received a high score in a test to assess whether he suffered f rom the personality disorder.

The court also heard that Wright was unable to accept his guilt for the sex attacks, or understand his victims’ pain and suffering.

Such behaviour is a common feature of psychopathy.

Chan Wright