A MAN who locked a teenager in her home to rape her was told he could face a lifetime under supervision yesterday.
A judge told Paul Flynn he had an appalling record and had contributed nothing to society.
At the time of the rape Flynn was on bail and subject to supervision after an earlier jail sentence for assault and robbery.
The 19-year-old victim was
grabbed by the throat and pushed to the floor before Flynn pulled off her trousers.
An earlier trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that the young woman had taken Flynn, 36, to visit her father, an old friend he had not seen for years. They took a bus back to the Gorgie area of Edinburgh together and the young woman went home.
Giving evidence from behind screens, she said Flynn appeared at her door half an hour later, sat on her couch and tried kiss her.
She continued: "He pushed me on the floor. He had his hand round my throat and he tried to strangle me and push me on the floor and still tried to kiss me."
She said: "I told him he was my dad's pal and I thought he was my friend as well."
She said she ran for the door, but Flynn got there first and put the keys in his pocket.
"He pushed me into the bedroom. I jumped over the bed and tried to open my window.
"He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me off the window on to the floor. He pinned me down by my arms then he pulled my trousers down.
Flynn then forced her to have sex. Afterwards, he returned her keys and left.
Flynn claimed during the trial that the woman had suggested going to the bedroom and consented to sex.
A jury found Flynn, a father of two, of Slateford Green, Edinburgh, guilty of rape.
The court heard yesterday that Flynn's record included 11 previous convictions for violence and he had spent most of his adult life in prison.
Solicitor advocate Brian Gilfedder, defending, said Flynn continued to maintain his innocence of the rape charge.
The judge, Lord Uist, called for a risk assessment to enable him to impose a lifelong restriction order – which would keep Flynn under close watch, even after the parole board sees fit to free him from prison.
"There is a likelihood that, if at liberty, you will seriously endanger the lives or the physical or the psychological wellbeing of members of the public," the judge told him.
Flynn is due back in court in June.
The full article contains 441 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
