Edinburgh Rapist Aaron Strachan Gets Lifelong Sentence After Prison Van Escape
Edinburgh Rapist Aaron Strachan Gets Lifelong Sentence After Prison Van Escape
Aaron Strachan, 21, received a lifelong restriction for the horrific rape of a teen girl in Edinburgh & attacking two men. He also briefly escaped a prison van! Get the full, shocking story here.
A 21-year-old rapist, Aaron Strachan, has been told he may never be released from prison following a series of horrific crimes, including the "bestial" rape of a 15-year-old girl. The sentencing came after Strachan briefly escaped from a prison van earlier this year, prompting a major police manhunt in Edinburgh.
Strachan stalked, abducted, and raped the teenager in the York Place area of Edinburgh on May 25 last year. On the same day, he also carried out an "unprovoked" stabbing attack on a man in the South Bridge area and, days later on May 28, assaulted another man with a hammer in High Riggs.
He was due to be sentenced in January but managed to escape while being transferred from the Court of Session to a prison van. Police quickly launched a search and he was recaptured within hours in the city. Strachan pleaded guilty to the rape, two assaults, and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
At the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, Judge Michael O’Grady KC imposed an order for lifelong restriction on Strachan, with a minimum custodial period of five years. Addressing Strachan, Judge O'Grady stated he may never be released.
Detailing the harrowing ordeal, the court heard how Strachan first approached the 15-year-old girl as she waited at a bus stop in Edinburgh city centre in the early hours of May 25. When she felt uneasy and walked away, CCTV captured Strachan, with his face covered by a balaclava, following her. He then ran towards her at a second bus stop, threatening her with a knife, before forcibly leading her to a basement on York Place, where he blocked the door with wooden pallets and committed the rape.
Judge O’Grady condemned Strachan's actions, calling them "the stuff of nightmares for every woman and every young girl, and every parent who waits at home for their child to return home safely." He further described the crime as "truly bestial," emphasizing that "predatory" was an inescapable adjective for such an act.
