Woman ran into Edinburgh street screaming for help after rapist attack

A rapist whose attack on his victim caused her to run into a street screaming for help has been jailed for seven years.

The woman pleaded for help in messages before she fled from the flat where she was subjected to the ordeal by Don Webley.

Webley, 43, of Westhill, Aberdeen, had denied raping the woman at his then home at a flat in Edinburgh on September 18, 2022, and claimed in a special defence that sexual activity between them was consensual.

But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh convicted him on a majority verdict in February 2025 of committing the sex crime.

Webley was acquitted of attempting to murder the victim by restricting her breathing.

On Tuesday, Webley appeared once again at the High Court in Edinburgh for sentencing.

Judge Michael O’Grady KC sentenced Webley to seven years for the offence and ordered him to be supervised for three years following his release.

Passing sentence, Judge O’Grady said: “Any rape is abhorrent, and what we know from the evidence of the aftermath of this attack was that this was deeply distressing and damaging for this particular victim.”

The court heard that on the Sunday morning when the rape occurred, a man walking along Granton Medway towards a baker’s shop came across the woman screaming and shouting: “Phone the police.”

The woman was crying and hysterical and only wearing a top, and he made a 999 call to emergency services.

One of the officers who responded to the call found the woman sitting in a dark recess in a stairwell at the street.

He said: “She was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall. She had her knees up to her chest and she was holding her knees, sort of cradling herself in that position.”

He noticed she was wearing a hoodie and was “sort of whimpering”.

He said: “She told me she had been raped and she had run away. She told me she had run away from a flat in that street but didn’t know which one.

“She told me it was Don Webley, and Don Webley had raped her. She told me it happened more than once. She told me she was choked and thought she was going to die.”

“She was struggling to speak, she was that upset. She was struggling to breathe because she was crying so much,” he said.

The woman told a policewoman that she was at the flat with others but was left alone with Webley after they departed.

Messages were found on her phone asking for help and saying she was trying to get away. One said: “He is a beast.”

During a search at Webley’s flat police found trainers, jogging bottoms, pants and a handbag belonging to the woman.

Webley was placed on the sex offenders’ register following his conviction for the rape of the woman who did not give evidence during the trial.

On Tuesday, defence solicitor advocate Marco Guarino told the court that while maintaining his innocence, his client accepted the jury’s verdict “as he must do.”

He said that Webley had previously been working offshore as a deck crew in the North Sea.

Judge O’Grady also passed a non-harassment order on Webley prohibiting him from contacting the victim indefinitely.

Webley was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Help and support is available now if you need it. Support is available from NHS Scotland, Police Scotland and various charities and support organisations.

Rape Crisis Scotland supports people of all genders living in Scotland aged 13+ who have been affected by sexual violence.