Convicted sex offender cleared of rape

Gordon Sanderson was acquitted of rape at the High Court in Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin

Gordon Sanderson had been accused of attacking a 40 year-old woman at a house in North Berwick, East Lothian in 2013.

The 56 year-old was acquitted of the allegation after prosecutors accepted his not guilty plea during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.

However, Sanderson – previously jailed for a sex offence – could still be locked up again after he instead admitted assaulting the woman on two occasions.

Sanderson is the son in law of tragic pensioner Marie Reid.

Jay Soso, 22, was jailed for 12 years and eight months in 2012 after he admitted to the rape and culpable homicide of the 63 year-old at her home in Edinburgh.

Sanderson spoke on behalf of the OAP’s family at the time of the high-profile case.

But Sanderson had previously been convicted of sex crimes himself.

He was jailed for two years in November 2003 for a charge of lewd and libidinous practices.

He was previously admonished for the same offence in 1981.

The assaults on the woman in this latest case happened in 2006 and 2010 both at houses in North Berwick.

In the first, Sanderson pushed the woman onto a bed and put a cushion over her face.

Prosecutor Bill McVicar said: “She was upset and frightened by this conduct and suffered a panic attack.”

During the second incident, Sanderson held his hands around the woman’s throat and only stopped when her son yelled at him to stop.

The court heard the woman remains scared of Sanderson and does not want to see him again.

Judge Lady Rae continued bail for Sanderson and deferred sentencing until next month in Edinburgh.