'Out of control' rapist who abducted teenage girl faces life sentence

A man who abducted a teenage girl at knifepoint then raped her in an Edinburgh city centre basement is facing a possible life sentence.

Aaron Strachan, 21, followed the 15-year-old before pulling a knife on her and marching her through streets in the early hours of 25 May last year.

Judge Michael O'Grady KC has deferred sentencing so reports can be carried out to determine whether Strachan meets the criteria for an order for lifelong restriction.

This would mean that he could only be released if the parole board decided he no longer posed a threat to the public.

The judge said Strachan was "clearly out of control" and was capable of "the most alarming outbursts of significant violence and dreadful acts of premeditated cruelty and sexual depravity".

He said: "The crime of rape which you have committed is as disturbing and as wicked as I have seen on these many years on the bench.

"It contains almost every aggravating feature it is possible to imagine."

He said Strachan had already been convicted on 13 occasions of a variety of offences, three of which had involved "significant violence" using a knife and hammer.

Deferring sentence until June, the judge said Strachan was "a deeply dangerous individual to anyone who has the misfortune to attract your anger or your sexual desires".

And he said the teeenage girl would "forever walk in the awful shadow of what you did to her in a dingy cellar".

Advocate depute Chris McKenna previously told the court that the 15-year-old girl had spent the evening at a friend's home before walking along Lothian Road to a bus stop.

Strachan sat down beside her wearing a balaclava.

The girl felt uneasy and walked to a bus stop outside the Marks and Spencer on Princes Street.

Strachan followed her, demanded her phone and warned: "Don't scream."

He then threatened her with a knife, grabbed her by the shoulders and began marching her towards York Place, while frequently covering her eyes.

He then forced her down a set of steps to a basement with a mattress on the floor and raped her.

Before leaving the teenager Strachan told her not to tell anyone, and threatened to find her and hurt her if she did.

Police said the "harrowing attack" had a profound effect on the young girl.

Strachan also admitted two further serious assault charges.

He repeatedly struck Steven Logan on the hand with a knife in an unprovoked attack in South Bridge, Edinburgh.

In another incident, he approached Walid Bekri El Maaroufi in the Tollcross area of the city and said: "Do you remember me?"

Strachan then pulled out a hammer from his sleeve and struck Maaroufi on the head, leaving him semiconscious and fracturing his skull.

The victim underwent surgery in hospital after the attack. He now needs to take anti-epileptic medication and is in constant pain.