EVIL SEX BEAST GETS SIX YEARS

Man took advantage of vulnerable people

A Stirling man was yesterday (Thursday) sentenced to six years’ jail on charges of rape, sexual assault and serious assault.

Archibald Weir, Campbell Court, St Ninians had been found guilty of the offences on May 13 following trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

When the matter called for sentence at the High Court in Livingston, the 37-year-old father-of-four was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

Sentencing Weir, the Judge, Lord Beckett, said: “The [sexual] crimes are serious and involve you taking advantage of people who were to some degree vulnerable.

“There was [also] serious violence in respect of one complainer.”

Lord Beckett, who considered impact assessments from the victims, added: “Both complainers suffered enduring consequences and there has been significant impact on how

live their lives. Such is the gravity of the situation only a prison sentence is appropriate.”

The sexual assault charges came to light last year after police began to investigate Weir’s background during an inquiry into an attack on a woman in Stirling. He stood trial on six charges and was found guilty on three of them.

Weir was convicted on a charge that on February 15, 2001, at an address in Stirling, he sexually assaulted a man who was asleep and incapable of either giving or withholding consent.

He was also found guilty on a second charge of raping a teenage girl at a second address in Stirling between December 2004 and December 2005.

He was convicted on another charge of assaulting the victim of the second charge, at an address in Stirling on February 17, 2018, by repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body to her severe injury.

Solicitor advocate George Pollock, defending, said Weir had the support of his family and no experience of jail. There had been “a significant absence of offending” since 2004/2005 and the offences, he said, were not part of a prolonged period of abuse.

A social enquiry report said Weir was of medium risk of re-offending. Lord Beckett backdated Weir’s sentence to May 16 when he was remanded in custody following the trial. He said he was not minded to impose an extended sentence, of supervision, on Weir’s release from prison.