Dunblane survivor guilty of sex attack on pensioner

A SURVIVOR of the Dunblane massacre is facing jail for battering a 76-year-old churchgoer with intent to rape her.

Ryan Liddell was just five when he was shot in the arm and chest by gunman Thomas Hamilton, who went into his primary one gym class at Dunblane Primary School and murdered 16 of his classmates and his teacher.

Fifteen other children, including Liddell, another teacher, and a classroom assistant, survived.

But Liddell, now 20, was today found guilty of the violent sex attack on the grandmother-of-two, after barging into her groundfloor flat in Dunblane, Perthshire and saying he wanted sex before attacking her.

After a trial that ran to nine days, a jury of eight women and seven men at the High Court in Dumbarton took over four and a half hours to find Liddell, of Anderson Street, Dunblane, guilty by majority of assault with intent to rape and to the danger of life. He had denied the charge.

He was also found guilty, unanimously, of breaking a bail curfew.

Liddell, who worked as a short-order cook at a local Little Chef, had been stalking the streets of Dunblane at night when he spotted his victim's door open at 4.00 am on June 14th 2010.

In what advocate depute Jennifer Bain, prosecuting, described as a "senseless and brutal" assault, he pretended he was her carer and there to give her a shower, before punching her repeatedly and kicking her on the head as she lay on the ground.

He ripped off her clothes before dragging her through to her bedroom and telling her he wanted to have sex with her.

He might have gone through with the rape, but was forced flee when the woman's neighbours, alerted by muffled screams, ran downstairs to find her lying naked in her living room in a pool of blood, bruised and battered with two broken teeth.

Judge Lord Uist told Liddell he had been found guilty of an "appalling" crime.

Deferring sentence for background reports -- including a psychiatric report and a risk assessment until July 20th at the High Court in Edinburgh, the judge ordered that Liddell's name be placed on the sex offenders' register.

He remanded Liddell in custody.