Man who raped sleeping woman half his age at his flat jailed

A man who raped a sleeping woman 30 years his junior has been jailed for five years.

James Black, 60, struck at his flat in Ardrossan, Ayrshire on October 13, 2019.

The shocked victim woke up before racing out to wait for a taxi in the lashing rain.

She went on to blurt out to the cabbie: “I think I have just been raped.”

On Tuesday, Black was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow having been convicted following a trial in October.

Lady Rae told him: “You took advantage of a lady who was asleep at the time and you raped her.

“I will take into account that you have no previous convictions and that this is your first offence at the age of 60.

“As a result, I am going to limit the sentence somewhat, but I cannot limit it to any less than five years imprisonment.”

Jurors heard how the pair knew each other and were said to have had “a good night” prior to the attack.

The woman agreed to stay overnight at Black’s flat in Ardrossan’s Dockers Gardens.

Black later pounced as she lay in bed initially asleep.

Recalling the attack, she said: “It was really quiet. He did not speak…like he was trying not to make any noise at all.

“I tried to roll away, but he continued. It was weirdly quiet. The impression I got was he was trying not to wake me up.”

The woman was eventually able to leap out of the bed and out the flat.

She got a taxi even though she had little money to get home.

In the cab, the tearful victim stated: “I think I have just been raped. What gave him the right? 

“I was asleep. I did not give him any encouragement.”

The woman was later described as looking “empty and distant” following her ordeal.

Black told jurors he was not “in love” with the younger woman despite texts appearing to show he had feelings for her.

He claimed she was in “ecstasy” at having consensual sex with him.

But, in his speech to jurors, prosecutor Michael Macintosh described Black’s evidence as “fantasy rather than reality”.

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country