Man who raped teenager and assaulted three-year-old jailed

A repeat sex offender has been jailed for nine years for attacks on girls aged three and 15 years old.

Christopher Ross, 65, raped the teenager in Inverness in 2006 and sexually assaulted the younger girl in a Highland village in October 2022.

He denied the accusations but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty of both offences last month.

Sentencing Ross, judge Simon Collins KC told him he had caused "lasting psychological and emotional damage" to his older victim.

Sentencing had been deferred on Ross, of Inverness, until Wednesday for the High Court in Edinburgh to obtain reports.

Judge Collins said: "I have had regard to a victim impact statement which has been provided to the court.

"It tells in detail how you have left her with lasting psychological and emotional damage over many years. "

During earlier proceedings, the court heard that the woman who was attacked when she was 15 did not report it to police until 2022.

But she did tell a friend at school the following day who said she looked "shocked" and "traumatised".

The friend said the victim told her she had been drinking at a flat and she was supposed to be taken home but that did not happen and she was raped.

After the woman went to police, an identification line-up was arranged and she picked out Ross as her attacker.

During his evidence, Ross claimed he did not know her.

He also denied sexually assaulting the younger girl, adding: "I would never touch her that way."

After returning a guilty verdict, the jury heard that Ross had a previous conviction for indecent assault in 1999 which resulted in a non-custodial sentence.

Judge Collins placed Ross on the sex offenders register for life.