Sex attacker gets life for bid to rape dog walker

The teenager was grabbed by Kevin Mathers, 23, as she walked her family's pet on a popular footpath in Edinburgh.

He dragged her into bushes and asked: "How many times do you want me to rape you?"

A judge branded Mathers a "highly dangerous man" and imposed a lifelong restriction order on him, under which he can be held in custody indefinitely.

The victim welcomed the sentence as she left the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday and said she could now finally start looking forward to her 18th birthday.

She said: "I am happy it is over. Hopefully, I will stop being depressed all the time and getting nightmares.

"Hopefully, I will have closure. I can now enjoy my 18th birthday (in two weeks' time] without thinking I will have to go back to court and see him again."

Mathers, of Ferry Road Drive, Edinburgh, admitted assaulting and attempting to rape the woman on 30 June last year at a footpath/cycle route leading to Telford Path, over Ferry Road.

Advocate-depute Ashley Edwards said Mathers was a stranger to the victim, who had been walking her dog around 10pm when he passed her, saying: "Hiya darling." She became aware that he was following her, and he grabbed her by the neck.

"He put his hand over her mouth and threatened that if she screamed, he would 'slit her throat.' She was extremely afraid and crying," said Ms Edwards.

The teenager repeatedly begged Mathers to stop, but he asked how many times she wanted him to rape her and said she would be going home with him. He forced her to perform an indecent act on him, and he molested her and tried to have sex with her.

Mathers stopped after hearing a couple walking on the path, and the teenager took the chance to push him away and run out, screaming that she had been attacked. Mathers fled but was detained a couple of days later at a fast food restaurant, where a witness recognised him.

The defence counsel, Mhairi Richards QC, said Mathers, who had taken drink and drugs, remembered nothing of the incident. He was of "limited intellectual functioning".

Mrs Richards read from a letter in which Mathers stated that he had found it difficult to fit into society, but considered himself friendly and courteous. He was "disgusted" at what he had done.

"I hurt inside myself because of the pain I have caused … sorry is not good enough but a word that can be said," he had added.

Lord Pentland said it was a despicable attack, and that the victim had suffered a terrifying and degrading ordeal.

"It was violent, sustained and depraved … it is clear you are a person of an aggressive and violent disposition with very limited powers of self-control," said the judge.

He added: "I am in no doubt that you are a highly dangerous man. The court's main responsibility, in these circumstances, must be to take whatever steps are available under the law to ensure public safety. I am entirely satisfied that I must impose a life sentence on you."

Lord Pentland fixed three years and six months as the minimum period Mathers must serve before he could be considered for parole.