'˜Privileged' Edinburgh University student jailed for '˜disgraceful' sex attack

The case was heard at Aberdeen High Court. Pic: Shutterstock

Felix Beck choked the 18-year-old and left her bruised and bleeding after she invited him to her room.

But the 22-year-old collapsed in tears today in the dock at Aberdeen High Court as he was handcuffed and led away to start his lengthy jail term.

The court heard that Beck, who is pictured on student websites swigging champagne in posts praising his sexual prowess, told the girl he “wouldn’t have got aggressive” if he had been happy with her performance.

One Edinburgh Uni student website brands Beck the “Maddest Fresher” and states he will always be found “with a bottle of Moet in each hand”.

In passing sentence, Judge Lord Uist told Beck: “You come from a comfortable, indeed privileged background, and are in the fourth year of your studies.

“You have only yourself to blame for the situation in which you now find yourself which arises out of the lifestyle you were leading and your sense of sexual entitlement and arrogance.

“The way you treated your victim both during and after your violent attack was callous and disgraceful.

“I must have regard to your background but also to the consequences for your victim and the public interest in the protection of women and punishment of sexual crime.

“The crime was a grave one but not mitigated by any behaviour on your part and merits a custodial sentence.”

Beck used Tinder to meet his his 18-year-old victim, who swapped sexual messages with him before agreeing to meet at her halls of residence.

The woman told police that she and Beck went to her room and they were consensually kissing and she told him “to take control” as she did not want to feel awkward. She said she had wanted him to take the lead.

She said she was sexually inexperienced and nervous and saw Beck as a second year student who slept with quite a few girls and “knows the ropes”.

The woman, who had recently started university, said he had carried out a sex act on her but grabbed her round the neck and dug his fingers in.

She said: “When he took his hand off my neck I told him I didn’t like that. He didn’t say anything.”

The woman denied that she ever asked or suggested that he should choke her during the encounter.

She said she did not ask him to bite her on the thighs and he did not ask if he could bite her there or on her private parts.

She said that as far as she was concerned the sexual contact became non-consensual when he started choking her and she told him to calm down. She said she was scared it would escalate.

Beck, of Old Infirmary Lane in Edinburgh, claimed the woman told him she wanted to be spanked and during the encounter asked if he would like to choke her.

But a jury found him guilty of sexual assault by penetration committed in October 2016 in Edinburgh - deleting an allegation of oral rape from the charge.

The court also heard that the victim was left bruised and bleeding and now suffers from PTSD, and had to switch universities to complete her studies.

Only weeks before the attack Beck had been quizzed over a rape allegation by another woman - a charge for which he was ultimately acquitted at his trial last month.

It is understood that Beck was allowed to continue his studies - and was set to graduate this summer with a job already lined up for him if he dodged jail today.

But now he will spend a lengthy period behind bars.

Beck was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.

During his mitigation, Defence QC John Scott urged the court to impose a non-custodial sentence - claiming there was treatment for sex addiction available to Beck if he was released.

He said: “He has grown up and matured in the last two years.

“The comments he made were utterly callous, completely disrespectful and wholly unnecessary.

“Ungentlemanly doesn’t begin to cover it.”

Join our Facebook group Our Edinburgh to share images and news from and around the Capital