Rapist told court he was ‘caring, considerate’
Sexual predator attacked four women
A man who claimed he was “caring, considerate” and had “respect” towards women has been convicted of raping four women.
Scott Pollock (28) believed that six women had conspired against him in a bid to wrongly smear him as a sexual predator.
The delivery driver told jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh he had no other idea why the women claimed that he had raped them. He told prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC that he thought his victims were “jealous.”
Each of the females, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave similar accounts of how he targeted them.
Per vert Pollock, however, maintained that he was an innocent man who had been framed.
But after failing to come up with a convincing explanation of why he was being targeted by the women, the jurors convicted Pollock of rape and sexual assault charges. He wept as judge Lord Ericht told him he was being put on the Sex Offenders Register.
Lord Ericht told jurors: “You have carried a heavy responsibility in what has been a serious case.”
The judge’s comments came at the end of a week-long trial for Pollock, whose address was given in legal papers as being of Headlesscross Farm, Bathgate.
Prosecutors claimed he had raped and sexually assaulted six women at various locations in West Lothian
and sexually assaulted six women at various locations in West Lothian between May 2007 and June 2011. However, a jury returned verdicts of rape and sexual assault with regard to four of the complainers in the case.
During proceedings, one of Pollock’s victims claimed that she had been attacked by him shortly after her 16th birthday in the summer of 2007.
She told the court that Pollock detained her in his car against her will and drove her to a remote rural location near Livingston.
He then sexually assaulted her in his vehicle before taking her to Bathgate.
She told the court : “He started talking to me about how important sex was. I felt scared and awkward. I felt tense, really tense. I was scared.
“He drove me back to Bathgate. I didn’t want him to know where I stayed. So I asked him to drop me off in a car park.”
Pollock raped and sexually assaulted four women between March 2008 and December 2012.
However, he claimed that he was the victim of a conspiracy.
Pollock chose to give evidence and during cross examination, prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC asked: “Would you consider yourself a caring and considerate man? Someone who has respect for a woman?” Pollock replied: “Yes.” Mr Prentice then said: “Do you ask the ladies and gentlemen to form the view of you that you are a caring and loving man and that it is just unfortunate that six people came along to this court and told wicked lies about you?” He replied: “Yes.” Mr Prentice then asked: “Do you suggest that they conspired together?” Pollock replied: “Yes.” The top prosecutor then asked: “All of this great conspiracy to have you convicted of serious crimes?” Pollock replied: “Yes.” Mr Prentice then asked: “Why on Earth would they do that?”
Pollock replied: “I don’t know. They’re jealous.”
The jurors disbelieved Pollock’s claims and returned guilty verdicts.
Lord Ericht continued bail for Pollock and deferred sentence for the court to obtain reports about the rapist’s character.
Pollock will be sentenced at the High