A carpet fitter who raped and physically abused two women for years has been jailed for 10 and a half years.
At the High Court in Glasgow temporary judge Norman Ritchie QC told 31-year-old Neil McIntosh: "This was a sustained course of savagery. You displayed unbridled viciousness and you raped these women repeatedly. The effects for your victims will be long-standing, perhaps even permanent."
Vicious Neil McIntosh beat one of his victims until she was unconscious while her terrified five-year-old son looked on shouting "leave my mummy alone".
He repeatedly attacked the woman for six years. On one occasion he tried to drown her. He also forced her to wear make up when he was around because he didn't want to see her "ugly face".
When she eventually managed to break free from the abuse, McIntosh moved on to his second victim whom he regularly visited at her Glasgow home.
McIntosh again repeatedly beat and raped the 36-year-old and forced her to take a pregnancy test before attacking her when the result was negative. He was eventually arrested when a friend of the woman called the police after discovering what had been going on.
Victim
McIntosh, a prisoner at Barlinnie Prison, admitted repeatedly assaulting and raping his first victim at various addresses in Inverness-shire between January 1999 and November 2005
He also pled guilty to repeatedly assaulting and raping the second woman at an address in Glasgow between January and September 2009.
Prosecutor Leanne Cross told the court that McIntosh started attacking his first victim in January 1999.
Miss Cross said: "He held her down on the bed and forcibly raped her. This happened repeatedly before she realised that it was 'easier to give in'. He often beat her in front of her son who would try to pull him away shouting 'leave mummy alone'."
The court heard that on one occasion McIntosh threw the woman against a wall and knocked her unconscious and when she woke up her son was lying over her crying.
He also held her head under water for long periods of time as she ran her son's bath. The woman eventually broke off all contact with McIntosh. She never reported what had happened to her until this second victim complained to the police. McIntosh met his next victim in August 2008.
Kicked
Miss Cross added: "The accused slapped her on the face, punched her on the head and body, kicked her on the head and body and on occasion kicked her from room to room.
"During these assaults he would say 'I'm going to f***ing kill you'. She was also raped repeatedly by the accused who would grab her by the hair or throat and throw her down before forcing himself on her."
The court heard that the woman called one of her friends during one round of abuse "virtually hysterical" and her friend called the police.
When officers arrived at the woman's Glasgow home, she told them what had been happening to her and McIntosh was detained. She was treated in hospital for a perforated ear drum and a broken hand.
Judge Ritchie placed McIntosh on the sex offenders register, and told him that, but for his early guilty plea, he would have been jailed for 12 years.
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