Rapist who stalked woman while on bail jailed for seven years

A rapist who was freed on bail before launching a stalking campaign against a second victim has been jailed for seven years.

Hospital worker John Gibson bombarded a woman with phone calls before raping her in her home after offering to trim her hedge.

But after he was released on bail following the sex attack he turned his attention to a second woman whom he targeted posting notes through her door and loitering at her gate.

A judge told Gibson at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday: “Your behaviour, as described in evidence, was despicable and very distressing for your victims.”

Craig Scott QC said it was worrying that after imposing himself on the first woman he had blatantly and forcefully exploited the situation by raping her in her home.

The judge said: “It is even more worrying to find that less than a year after the rape had taken place you were again stalking another woman who lived alone to the extent that you caused her to live in fear on a daily basis.”

He said that the “twisted attitude” Gibson, 48, had shown towards his victims deserved appropriate punishment.

The judge told the former operating theatre worker he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

The rape victim said Gibson had turned up at her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, and motioned towards her overgrown hedge. The woman, 55, said she had offered him £40 and he told her he would cut her hedge before going away but returned to ask for her number. He later called her asking if he could come round with a bottle of wine.

Shewentshoppingbutfound that when she returned her phone was ringing constantly. She checked where the calls were coming from and found it was a number Gibson had given her. She said Gibson arrived at her home with two bottles of wine in a bag and told her he wanted to talk to her. He went into her living room and went on to rape her.

Following the attack on 28 August in 2015 Gibson appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was released on bail. He then turned his attention to a second woman who became anxious and scared by his persistent interest in her.

After he turned up at her home in Dalkeith with a bottle of wine urging her to let him in but the 25-year-old said she pressed a panic alarm.

Advocate depute Bruce Erroch told the court that Gibson, formerly of Jean Armour Drive, Dalkeith, was an NHS health care practitioner at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.