Serial rapist and abuser jailed for 11 years

A serial rapist who subjected his victims to violence and controlling abuse has been jailed for 11 years.

Owen Orr, 24, raped four women and subjected two of his victims to multiple sex attacks. He also physically attacked a fifth woman.

The offences took place at locations in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told him: "Your offending was an appalling catalogue of sexual violence and abusive behaviour."

Lord Doherty said a background report indicated that he continued to deny responsibility and added: "You have expressed no remorse."

He said victims had suffered lasting consequences as a result of Orr's crimes.

Lord Doherty added: "You were not a fully mature adult when these offences were committed but you were an adult, aged 20 to 22, when the most serious were committed."

Orr began his crimes in 2018 in Hawick when he threw a can at a victim, punched her in the face, seized her head and struck it against a door frame.

'Some difficulties'

Between September 2019 and December the following year he subjected a second woman to abuse at addresses in Midlothian.

He also raped her when she was pregnant in October 2020.

Between August and November the following year Orr subjected another woman to abusive behaviour in Hawick and Midlothian and raped her twice.

He went on to subject a further woman to repeated rapes in 2022 in Melrose and abused and repeatedly raped another woman in August 2022 in Penicuik.

Defence counsel Sarah Loosemore said Orr did not have a record of previous convictions and had faced "some difficulties" in his life.

He was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Lord Doherty made non-harassment orders prohibiting him contacting or attempting to contact his victims.

He ordered that Orr should be under supervision in the community for a further four years after his jail term, when he will be under licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches its conditions.