Wick man guilty of raping two women

A man has been found guilty at the High Court in Aberdeen of raping and assaulting two women in the Wick area.

One of Duncan Begg's victims was indecently assaulted in 1991 when she was pregnant.

Begg, 43, from Wick but who had recently been living on Skye, denied the allegations and said the sexual contact with the women was consensual.

Several other charges alleging offences against women and children were dropped during the two-week trial.

It was claimed that Begg raped three women and carried out lewd acts on three children during a 26-year period while living in the Wick area.

A jury took found him guilty of eight offences relating to two of the women by majority verdict.

'Anxious and distressing'

One of his victims was assaulted while she was pregnant.

She was attacked on another occasion, when she was not pregnant. She was repeatedly punched on her face and Begg burned her with a cigarette.

He poured a bottle of whisky over her face and raped her.

Begg attacked another woman the previous year by seizing her by the hair and dragging her into a kitchen.

Her clothes were removed and she was forced outside naked. She was also raped.

Judge Morris described the case as a very "anxious and distressing" trial and thanked the jury for their service.

Cook a baby

Begg went on trial facing 43 charges relating to lewd behaviour against children, rapes, indecent assaults and attacks on three women.

He was initially accused of threatening to cook a baby and claimed to have tied a ligature around an infant's body then dangled the child out a window.

Several charges were dropped during the trial.

The judge deferred sentence for background reports until 1 August at the High Court in Glasgow.

Begg was remanded in custody and put on the sex offenders register.