Sex attacker Kenneth Bright who raped vulnerable women 'in need of help' jailed

A sex attacker who targeted vulnerable women before subjecting them to rape ordeals has been jailed for seven years.

Kenneth Bright raped three victims, one of whom was an underage teenager, after coming across them and going back with them to addresses in Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone, in Renfrewshire.

He subjected all three to attacks while they were under the influence and incapable of consenting to sex.

A judge told 35-year-old Bright at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Each, for their own reasons, was a vulnerable individual in need of help.”

Lord Tyre pointed out that although these were Bright’s first convictions for sex crimes he has a long history of previous offending.

The court heard the persistent offender was assessed as posing a medium risk of sexual re-offending.

Lord Tyre said he was concerned at the lack of understanding on Bright’s part on the drastic effect his actions may have had on victims.

The judge ordered that the rapist should be under supervision and monitored for a further three-year period.

Bright had denied a string of charges during an earlier trial but was found guilty of the rape attacks on the three women.

Defence solicitor advocate Paul Mullen said Bright’s position remained the same as at trial, but he accepted he faced “a lengthy sentence” after the guilty verdicts were returned by a jury.

Bright attacked his first victim on February 25 in 2014 at a flat in the Bellahouston area of Glasgow.

He sexually assaulted and raped the woman when she was asleep and under the influence of drink or another substance and after she awoke.

He subjected a second sleeping woman, who was also under the influence, to a rape attack at a flat in Johnstone in September 2019.

His third victim was a 14-year-old girl who was subjected to a sex act and rape after she fell asleep at a flat in Paisley in February 2020 while she was under the influence.

Bright was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely following his sentencing.