Armed man sexually assaulted woman who tried to fit him with electronic tag

A woman was confronted by an armed sex attacker when she turned up to fit him with an electronic monitoring tag.

Patrick Nolan emerged from the kitchen at an address on a Scottish island holding a large knife and put a hand down the front of his trousers before telling his victim: “Take your clothes off”.

Nolan approached the woman and grabbed at the waistband of her trousers but did not manage to pull them down as the victim struck out with her right forearm resulting in him losing his balance.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the woman said it was “terrifying” and Nolan recovered and moved towards her. He grabbed hold of her and a scuffle took place.

The woman managed to make her way to the door of the property and held Nolan’s right wrist “very tightly” while they were face-to-face.

She started to speak to the attacker “compassionately” as she tried to de-escalate the situation and told him he “didn’t have to do this”.

Nolan, 39, began talking about himself and a fallout with his girlfriend and after a brief conversation, threw the knife into the hallway.

The woman told him she was going to go and took her hands off him and released him before departing.

She noticed she had a minor injury to a thumb but went to her car and drove off a short distance before making a call to her supervisor to report what happened.

The court heard that she became so distressed that she struggled to breathe. She then went to a police station and Nolan was arrested.

The woman previously attended Nolan’s address to place a tag on his ankle as he was being electronically monitored. On that occasion, he was in the company of his girlfriend and a friend, and there were no issues.

On the day of the attack, she visited to place a new tag on Nolan, who was alone in the property. She thought he was a little drunk as he was slurring his speech and she noticed there were beer cans about the place.

Nolan admitted assaulting and sexually assaulting the woman, who was acting in the course of her employment, on May 25 this year by approaching her with a knife, instructing her to remove her clothing, seizing her by the body and attempting to remove her clothing.

Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said the offence was “of short duration” and that the “professionalism and fortitude” of the woman had to be acknowledged.

The judge, Lady Ross said: “The circumstances of this offence do raise issues of very serious concern. This is, on any view, a serious offence.”

The judge deferred sentence on Nolan for the preparation of a background report and risk assessment.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register and remanded in custody.