Jail for rapist who made victims wear dog masks and collars
- Published
Scott Lannister made his victims wear dog masks and collars
A rapist who forced his young victims to wear collars and tags has been jailed for 11 years.
Scott Lannister, 35, lured his vulnerable victims to his flat in Stirling between 2019 and 2020.
He sent them tickets to travel to Stirling to live with him as "house pets". They had to call him "master" and lived as dogs.
They were subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse, including rape.
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find upsetting
At the High Court in Stirling earlier this year Lannister was found guilty of three charges of rape and two of domestic abuse.
Judge Lord Scott gave Lannister a 20-year extended sentence with 11 behind bars and nine under supervision during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.
He was also put on the sex offenders register and given a non-harassment order against his victims for an indefinite period.
One young autistic person, who was then 26, moved up from London to Lannister's flat in Stirling.
Lannister paid for his ticket, met him at the train station, and immediately fitted him with a collar and tag.
Giving evidence via video link, he said: "I met him on an app called Telegram. He just offered and I had nothing better to do."
He said Lannister "started off really nice" but then began being "very aggressive".
He slept in a dog bed in a cupboard and was forced to wear a dog collar and a neoprene puppy mask "pretty much 24/7".
Lannister, who is also known as Scott Hanlon, would grab him by the collar and force him to have sex with him without his consent.
He said Lannister whipped and hit him about three times a week and carved letters into his back with a scalpel.
The trial also watched a video seized by police of physical violence carried out by Lannister on a second victim, who is now 21.
Their injuries were so distressing that a man who saw their face when delivering pizzas to Lannister's "dirty, cluttered flat" called police immediately.
Both victims said Lannister, described as "long term medically unemployed", had made them turn over their benefit money to him.
Police who searched Lannister's flat recovered surgical blades, more than 20 dog collars and leads, three "floggers", a wooden baton, metal chains, rubber dog masks, a large padded dog crate, dog beds, and dog tags.
Lannister had denied the offences and claimed his victims had consented.
Lannister had previously been jailed for four years at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2007, for sexual offences against children.
His defence counsel Bert Kerrigan KC told the sentencing: "Mr Lannister sees himself as part of a subgroup in society who choose as part of this lifestyle to be part of this puppy play."
Fraser Gibson, national procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, said Lannister manipulated vulnerable people "for his own depraved ends".
"The victims endured appalling ordeals while being controlled and manipulated," he said. "It has taken great bravery on their part to speak out against him and report the crimes.
"We hope today's sentence offers them some degree of comfort as they attempt to move on in their lives."
He urged victims of similar crimes to report it and seek help.
"You will be taken seriously, and we will use all the tools available to us to pursue justice on your behalf," he added.
Det Insp Forbes Wilson, of Police Scotland's Forth Valley public protection unit, said: "I welcome the sentencing of Scott Lannister who will now face the consequences for these degrading, violent attacks.
"Sexual crimes, of any nature, will not be tolerated. I would urge anyone who wishes to report an offence of this nature to come forward, regardless of the passage of time."