Victim gave police videos to jail masked rapist

Connor Hagley was convicted at the High Court in Stirling

A judge has thanked a rape victim for providing video evidence of her four-year ordeal at the hands of a masked attacker.

Connor Hagley, 26, was jailed for eight years at the High Court in Stirling for grave and violent sexual offending.

He used a balaclava disguise on 10 occasions while he committed assaults on the woman in Edinburgh.

The victim shook and wept on the public benches as Judge Fiona Tait thanked her for providing a statement on the impact of Hagley's actions.

Judge Tait said the victim: “Speaks of suffering ongoing trauma, significant psychological symptoms, lack of trust, nightmares and anxiety.”

The judge imposed an extension of a further two years during which Hagley can be recalled to prison if he offends again.

He was also banned for life from contacting his victim again and has been placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

The court heard that on one occasion the woman had walked into a bedroom and was grabbed from behind by a balaclava-clad figure who she later realised must have been behind the door.

She was crying and begged her attacker to stop but masked Hagley, who has facial tattoos, refused.

During another assault, the court heard how the woman was crying while Hagley laughed.

But the victim made a recording which was later handed over to police.

The court heard that Hagley also subjected the woman to repeated rapes when he was unmasked despite her begging him to stop.

He also subjected her to a catalogue of violence during which she was slapped, punched and threatened while he was armed with a machete.

He also strangled his victim and she twice lost consciousness after being throttled by him.

Prosecutor Paul Harvey said the first time it happened the woman awoke to find Hagley checking if she was still breathing.

The woman found a video on Hagley's phone which showed him having sex with her when she was asleep.

She took a video of the footage she found on the phone and later gave it to police.

Repeated assaults

Hagley admitted that he engaged in a course of abusive conduct towards the woman at addresses in Edinburgh between April 2019 and September 2021.

He seized her neck and compressed it, restricting her breathing, grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against walls and repeatedly slapped and punched her on the head and body.

He also pleaded guilty to raping her on an occasion between October 2017 and August 2021 when she was asleep and incapable of consenting and video recording her.

Hagley further admitted assaulting and raping the woman on various occasions between June 2019 and August 2021 and that during some of the attacks his face was masked.

Gareth Jones KC, defending, said Hagley had only two previous convictions - one for assault and the other for underage sex - and should be given credit for accepting his guilt.

However the court heard that he had been assessed as presenting a high or medium risk of reoffending.

Judge Tait told Hagley – who appeared for sentencing by video link from prison – that he had expressed “shame” for his actions, and he had been relatively young when the offences began.

But she said: “Nonetheless these sexual and violent offences are of considerable gravity.”