A sex attacker who raped a sleeping woman and molested a second female while she was also asleep was jailed for nine years on December 20, after blaming the victims.
Ruairidh Carey-Gardner, aged 29, assaulted his victims at addresses in Dunoon, in Argyll and Bute, and other locations on the Cowal peninsula.
He began molesting the first woman when she was sleeping and incapable of consenting and continued with the attack after she had awoken on an occasion between January and March in 2014.
The second woman was repeatedly sexually assaulted by him between January 2020 and July the following year, and raped.
A judge told Carey-Gardner: “The victim impact statements from both victims indicate, in detail, the psychological trauma they have suffered.”
Lord Lake said it was “striking” that there were similar features in the courses of criminal conduct towards the women.
The judge added: “It is of concern to the court that the seriousness of your conduct appears to have increased over a period of time.”
Lord Lake told Carey-Gardner at the High Court in Edinburgh that it was also of concern that he blamed the victims and alleged collusion between them.
The judge said: “In view of the seriousness of your crimes only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
He also ordered that the sex offender should be under supervision for a further three years when he is released on licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches its conditions.
Carey-Gardner, a prisoner in Greenock, had denied a series of charges at an earlier trial but was convicted of seven offences, including rape, sexual assault, assault and abusive conduct.
During violence towards the first victim he threw the woman to the ground, knelt on her and tried to force a stone into her mouth.
He repeatedly contacted her through phone calls and text messages, and sent threatening messages to her.
The second woman was thrown about, grabbed by the hair, gripped by the neck and had a knife held against her throat.
Defence counsel Allan Macleod said Carey-Garner recognised that a jail sentence was “inevitable” following his conviction.
He said of the garage worker: “He is a man who has a good work ethic.”
Carey Gardner was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.