Pensioner jailed for raping neighbour while she was asleep

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Osborne attacked the woman as she slept on his couch. Picture: John Devlin

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Roy Osborne, 65, of Millburn Court, Symington, Lanarkshire, attacked the woman, who was in her 30s, as she slept on his couch.

She woke up to find him raping her. When she told him to get off her, Osborne told her: “You were gagging for it.”

Judge Sean Murphy QC told Osborne: “You have been convicted of a very serious sexual offence. You took advantage of a woman who was in no condition to give consent.”

The woman died a year after the rape. An interview she gave to police on 12 August 2017 helped to convict Osborne.

In the statement, which was read out to the jury, she said that she regarded Osborne as a friend and went to his house three or four times a week for meals.

She told the police: “I was raped by my neighbour Roy Osborne. Roy was just a neighbour, just a friend. He’s an old man and I’ve never been sexually attracted to him.”

She added: “I had got to Roy’s house and I was napping on the couch in the living room. I woke up and he was on top of me. I was shocked. It was so unexpected. His trousers were down and I told him to get off and he told me I was ‘gagging for it’.”

Constable Tracy Anderson, who took the statement, said: “She was very emotional, very upset.”

The woman also told police: “Roy would often tell me he loved me, made a song up about me and had dreams about me. I told him I wasn’t interested.”

Neighbours who the victim went to shortly after the rape spoke of her being upset.

Osborne denied rape and claimed he had been having sex with the woman since May 2017.

Osborne, who had worked as a carer, told the jury the woman had sex with him after she refused to go to a doctor’s appointment. He insisted the woman was not “aware of her surroundings”.

He added: “We made love and she was awake.”

The jury convicted Osborne of raping the woman at his home on 11 August 2017.

Defence counsel Kevin McCallum told the court: “Mr Osborne continues to maintain his innocence.”