Man ripped out cyclist's piercings and told her he'd rape her days after prison release

A man carried out a terrifying assault on a cyclist days after he was freed from prison for sexually assaulting a mother on hospital grounds.

Drew Gibbs struck again at a cycle path in the Gilmerton area of Edinburgh, when he forced a woman on a bike to stop before he subjected her to an attack.

During the attack, the 20-year-old told his victim he wanted to rape her and would kill her.

The woman was left extensively bruised and battered, and Gibbs ripped out her nose and ear piercings.

When Gibbs was detained by police following the assault, he told them: “She’s lucky she got away.”

A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Your victim showed enormous courage while being subjected to what must have been a terrifying assault.”

Gibbs, of Loanhead, in Midlothian, admitted assaulting the 33-year-old cyclist on September 14 last year to her injury and with intent to rape her.

He also pleaded guilty to earlier attacking two passengers on a Lothian bus on the same day.

He held a pair of scissors to a woman’s neck, then attacked a man with the weapon when he went to her aid.

Lady Ross told Gibbs that the offences he admitted were a “cause of grave concern”.

The judge said: “In the space of less than two hours, you committed three assaults. Each of them was an attack on a stranger. The third offence is especially serious, this being a sexual assault on a woman on her own in an isolated place.”

Advocate depute Lindsey Dalziel said that the cyclist was making her way to a friend’s home along an old railway path when she saw Gibbs staggering ahead of her.

The prosecutor said: “When she got close, the accused held out his hand and stepped into the path, meaning the complainer had no choice but to stop.”

Gibbs asked her for money, but she told him she was not carrying cash. She tried to get past him on her bike, but he kept moving to block her.

The advocate depute said: “The accused then placed his hand around her neck and told her to let go of the bike, which she did.”

The woman was pushed to the ground, and Gibbs started to repeatedly punch her in the head.

The woman’s phone, which she was holding, automatically contacted emergency services after she pressed random keys.

Gibbs then began sexually assaulting the woman.

A cyclist went past, and she called out for help, but the cyclist kept going.

The advocate depute said: “Once the bike was out of sight, the accused turned back to her and laughed and stated: “He’s not going to help you.’.”

But the cyclist heard her scream for help, stopped, and made a 999 call. As he was calling, he saw police officers who had been instructed to attend following the earlier automatic call from the victim’s mobile phone.

The woman managed to get up and ran from the scene.

The 999 call made from the woman’s phone was played in court, and Gibbs could be heard asking her: “What have you got on you?” and “Do you want me to rape you?”

Lothian Buses control centre reported the earlier incidents on the bus to the police, and officers learnt that the call from the woman’s phone was traced to the Gilmerton Station area, near where the bus attacks took place.

The court heard that unemployed Gibbs has numerous previous convictions, including for assault, police assault and threatening behaviour.

In January last year, he admitted to sexually assaulting a woman, who had her six-month-old baby in a pram, on the grounds of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Gibbs approached the victim and followed her before he ran towards her and smacked her bottom. The woman headed back towards the hospital, and he tried to drag her to the ground before she managed to get free and took her daughter and went to the hospital entrance.

He was sentenced to 432 days in custody with post-release supervision, but was released from the sentence on September 12 last year.

Defence solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin said Gibbs has no recollection of the attacks on the bus or on the cyclist, but described the offences as “horrifying”.

Sentence was deferred on Gibbs for the preparation of a background report and risk assessment, and he was placed on the sex offenders’ register.