Rapist dangled victim over Burntisland railway bridge
- Published
Ricky Findleton continues to deny the crimes
A violent rapist who dangled one of his victims over a live railway line from a bridge has been jailed for nine years.
Ricki Findleton, 27, raped two teenagers and molested a 13-year-old girl during a campaign of abuse that spanned eight years.
One victim, raped twice as a pregnant teenager, was left fearing for the wellbeing of her unborn son.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, a judge told Findleton the acts of violence he perpetrated were "disturbing".
Lady Haldane said a background report made for "dispiriting reading" as Findleton, from Burntisland, Fife, continued to deny any responsibility for his crimes.
At an earlier trial, he claimed he was the victim of wicked lies.
He was convicted of a total of 12 charges - four offences of rape, two of underage sex, two of threatening or abusive behaviour, one of assault, one of abduction and assault, one of sexual assault and one of indecent communication with a child.
The crimes were committed at addresses and locations in Burntisland and Kirkcaldy, Fife, between 2011 and 2019.
The woman raped by Findleton when she was pregnant, told the court that during the second rape in 2011 she was crying and in pain.
"I knew he had used a lot of force. I had a lot of bleeding," she said.
Dangled over bridge
The 26-year-old woman said: "I was eight months and two weeks pregnant. I was scared my son had been harmed. I think on that occasion I went to the hospital to make sure everything was ok with my son."
She told the court she was bleeding as a result of the attack rather than an issue with her pregnancy.
After raping her, she said Findleton told her "that was nice" and went to play with an Xbox games console and smoked a joint.
She said Findleton, who first had sex with her when she was 15, subjected her to abuse and assaults on other occasions.
She said that once, in Burntisland, he pushed her to the ground, picked her up by the ankles so they were level with his shoulders and dangled her from a bridge over a railway line.
He had sex with a second woman, now aged 22, when she was underage and later raped her, including after the birth of her son in 2016.
'Enormous courage'
In another instance, a 13-year-old girl received a message in 2019 in which Findleton said he really wanted to have sex with her. She said: "He was texting me saying how beautiful I was."
The teenager said she was sent an obscene image by him and was molested by him. She told police: "I just don't want it happening to another girl."
Lady Haldane said: "It was plainly harrowing for the first two complainers, in particular, to give their evidence and they showed enormous courage in doing so."
She said Findleton had even suggested that victims were motivated to testify against him for "monetary gain".
As well as his prison term, the judge ordered that he should be monitored for a further five years under an extended sentence.
She told him he would be under licence during that period and if he breached conditions would be liable to be returned to prison to serve out the whole sentence in custody.
Findleton was also placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.