Glasgow rapist Dale Deacon attacked vulnerable 13-year-old girl as she slept

A man who raped a vulnerable 13-year-old girl after she had gone to bed has been jailed for five years.

Dale Deacon began his assault on the child when she was asleep but continued after she woke up.

The 29-year-old pulled the girl’s clothing down, restrained her and put a hand over her face and mouth as he attacked her at a flat in Glasgow.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told Deacon that having carefully considered the circumstances of the offence there was no method of dealing with him other than by a custodial sentence.

Lord Colbeck said the court had particular regard to the age of the victim and her vulnerability at the time as she was in bed and asleep when the attack took place in the Pollok area of the city on June 7, 2020.

The judge pointed out that Deacon’s criminal record ran to 34 previous convictions and imprisonment on seven occasions, although he accepted he has never previously been convicted of a sex crime.

Deacon, a prisoner, had denied raping the girl at an earlier trial but was found guilty of the offence by jury.

He claimed the sex was consensual and he reasonably believed that the girl had reached the age of 16.

The court heard that he has been assessed as posing a medium risk of committing further sexual offending.

Defence solicitor advocate Billy Lavelle said: “Although he maintains his position in relation to this, he understands it is a very serious matter.

“He is struggling with the fact that he has been convicted of a crime like this and that is something that is going to be with him for the rest of his life.”

Mr Lavelle said Deacon, a father of one, had a background of drug and alcohol consumption and suffered from depression.

The judge told Deacon that he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely following his sentencing.