Teenager jailed for attempted rape after attacks on joggers

A teenage sex beast who tried to rape two joggers on a secluded canal path was branded a danger to women by a judge.

The High Court in Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin

Nineteen-year-old Calvin Higgins, who threatened one of his terrified victims with a knife, was sentenced to six years detention.

He was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of intent to rape two women and assaulting a third woman.

Judge Lord Mulholland told Higgins: “You armed yourself with a knife and lay in wait in a quiet place for women to approach.

“You attacked three women – one of whom you presented a knife at. You said in evidence your intention was to rob these women. None of these women spoke of you attempting to remove their property. In respect of two out of the three women the jury returned a verdict that it was your intention to rape them.

“You are a danger to women.”

Lord Mulholland ordered Higgins, who is assessed as a high risk of re-offending, to be on licence for three years after his release from detention.

Higgins pounced on the female joggers after lying in wait near a canal path in Glasgow’s Maryhill.

He denied any sexual motive and claimed he wanted to rob them to help fund a birthday present for his girlfriend.

Higgins was found guilty of attacking two of the women with intent to rape.

He faced a similar allegation against the third victim – but the jury deleted that accusation, instead convicting him of assault.

The attacks happened at a quiet path near student halls in Maryhill on March 10 last year.

Higgins confronted the first victim and brandished a blade at her.

He ordered her to “get f****** down” with him to an even more secluded embankment area nearby.

The court heard the young woman was “hyperventilating” with fear.

She managed to escape, but Higgins went on to carry out a further sex attack on another runner.

He punched this petrified woman and tried to push her into bushes. The victim’s blood ended up on his sleeve.

He struggled with her, but she also managed to escape.

The third attack involved Higgins approaching a woman from behind and trying to grab her.

Higgins admitted he stood on a bridge near the canal and waited for a woman jogger going past.

Solicitor advocate Brian Fitzpatrick asked why he was armed with a knife and Higgins replied: “A lot of people my age have a knife. It is self protection because I am scared.”

He claimed he was “ashamed” of attacking the women, but denied the crimes were of a “sexual nature”.

Higgins was also found guilty of having a knife and resisting arrest.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: ‘This is a troubled young man. He had a disruptive childhood and disrupted eduction.”

Higgins, of Thornliebank, Glasgow, was also placed on the sex offenders register.

He showed no emotion as he was led away to start his sentence.