Bailed sex offender admits raping and killing pensioner in Edinburgh

Kevin Rooney, 26, had previously been locked up for sexual offences against two young boys and persistently breaking the rules of a sexual offences prevention order.

Rooney – who has 36 previous convictions – yesterday admitted murdering 74-year-old dementia sufferer Rosina Sutherland at her home in Edinburgh last year.

He killed the grandmother after ransacking her bungalow in Longstone, sexually assaulting her, repeatedly hitting her on the head and body and compressing her throat.

Rooney, who had been on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen for two days before lodging the guilty plea, robbed the pensioner of money, keys and her walking stick during the attack on 29 October. He was on bail for a string of offences.

Advocate depute Alison Di Rollo said Rooney’s extensive list of previous convictions included wilful fire-raising, theft and housebreaking, but he was also convicted of a sexual offence at High Court level in 2004.

She said: “He was convicted of lewd and libidinous practices in relation to two boys under the age of ten. He was sentenced to two years detention at a young offenders’ institute.”

The advocate depute said Rooney was handed a sexual offences prevention order in 2007 but repeatedly broke the rules.

She said: “He has been convicted of breaching this order several times and has on three occasions been sentenced to periods of imprisonment for being in contact with children under the age of 16 and failing to reside at approved accommodation.

“He was on bail at the time of the commission of this offence for a variety of offences including vandalism and shoplifting.”

Before he admitted murdering the pensioner, a jury had heard details of his bizarre behaviour in the hours after the attack.

Police witness Pc David Moran said Rooney confessed to murdering someone after they detained him for an unrelated matter hours after the attack.

The sex attacker told the officer that he would lead him to the body in return for a cigarette.

The officer confiscated almost £330 in cash which Rooney had crammed into his pockets.

Rooney was spotted in the Longstone Inn on the night of the attack “flashing” hundreds of pounds and had a walking stick that Rosina’s daughter Teresa had identified as her mother’s.

On Tuesday, relatives of the mother-of-five gave evidence yards away from her killer.

Her son-in-law Robert Iannelli, 45, told how he discovered her body lying with a towel neatly folded over her face in her “trashed” bedroom.

Details of the murder are due to be heard at Edinburgh’s High Court tomorrow.