Armed man intended to rape G4S officer trying to fit him with electronic tag

An armed man who carried out a sex attack on a female G4S officer who had tried to fit him with an electronic tag has been jailed for four and a half years.

Patrick Nolan initially appeared friendly with the field monitoring officer who collected a previous tag and placed a new device on his ankle during the home visit.

But as she got ready to leave, he returned from the kitchen armed with a long-bladed knife.

The 39-year-old had his left hand down his trousers and the weapon in the other when he demanded: “Take your clothes off.”

The woman struck out with her forearm, resulting in her attacker losing his balance.

Nolan, who had been drinking, recovered and moved back towards her. The woman managed to make her way to the door of the property on a Scottish island and held his right wrist tightly when they were “face to face”.

She began talking to him to “fool him into de-escalating the situation” and said he “didn’t have to do this” and told him she “would never tell anyone”.

She managed to take control of the situation and Nolan threw the knife away and she made her escape.

The woman went to her car to call a G4S supervisor and explained what happened but became so distressed she struggled to breath. She then contacted police and was described as being “clearly in a state of distress and close to tears”.

Nolan was under a court imposed restriction of liberty order at the time of the offence and was fitted with an electronic tag because of curfew conditions placed on him.

A judge said that custody officers and those such as the woman, who act as field monitoring officers, deserve to be treated with respect and work in circumstances that can be stressful in the criminal justice system.

Lady Ross said at the High Court in Edinburgh “You assaulted her with the intention of raping her, fortunately the complainer took control of the situation.”

The judge said it was only thanks to the quick thinking of the victim that the situation was not worse.

She told Nolan that he has “a bad record” of criminal offending with 31 previous convictions, including assault and sex crime. She pointed out that alcohol abuse lies behind much of his offending

The judge said: “The seriousness of this offence means that a substantial custodial sentence is necessary. The complainer was at the time carrying out her duties as a G4S officer.”

She told Nolan that he would have faced a six and a half year jail term for the offence, but for his guilty plea.

Lady Ross ordered that he should be under supervision in the community for a further two year period when he will be on licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches its terms.

Nolan earlier admitted assaulting the woman, then acting in the course of her employment, with intent to rape her on May 25 this year at a house on a Scottish island.

He approached her with a knife, seized her, struggled with her and struck her on the hand with the weapon. He instructed her to remove her clothing and tried to remove her clothing during the sexual assault.

Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif previously praised the “professionalism and fortitude” of the victim of the crime who suffered a cut to her thumb.

He told the court: “[Nolan] has, through me, asked to express his remorse, regret and apologies to the complainer.”

“He has told me in terms that no one should have had to go through what happened that day,” said Mr Latif.

He said that the conviction for the attack on the woman was “a crossroads in his life” for Nolan and he has indicated that he will take part in any programmes available to him in prison.

Nolan was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period and Lady Ross made a non harassment order banning him for contacting or attempting to contact the victim.