Soldier Brad Albutt sexually assaulted woman with syringe in Edinburgh

Brad Albutt carried out three horror sex attacks on the victim - including two with the sharp implement - while he was a serving soldier and living in the Scottish capital.

Albutt, an infantryman with The Rifles regiment, confessed to the victim following the third assault when she woke up to find him holding a syringe and a tub containing his semen.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the first attack saw 40-year-old Albutt sexually assault the woman while she slept on a couch at the home in the west of the capital in October 2022.

Prosecutor Ruaridh Allison said the woman was wearing just a dressing gown and had fallen asleep as the pair were lying on a couch watching television.

Mr Allison said: “Her next recollection was walking up with the sensation of being penetrated. She was initially in shock and when she turned her head to the accused he dropped the blanket.

Brad Albutt carried out three horror sex attacks on the victim - including two with the sharp implement | Alexander Lawrie

He added: ”The court heard the second sex attack by the depraved squaddie took place as the woman again slept on the sofa at the same address in October last year.”

The fiscal depute said: “The accused was still sitting on the sofa and she reached down and removed an object and realised it was a syringe. She described it as being a very thin syringe unlike one she had seen before. She chose not to confront him at that time and gave the syringe back to him. Following this she lay down and pretended to go to sleep.”

Mr Allison also told the court of a third incident involving the same victim that took place the following week. The fiscal depute said: “She fell asleep on the couch while she understood the accused to be in the spare room.

“Around 11.30pm she woke up to find the accused beside her feet at the couch and noticed he was holding something in his hand. When she asked what he was holding he attempted to hide the object. She tried to grab the object and found it again to be a syringe and there was also a small tub sitting on the couch.

“When she asked, the accused then disclosed to her that both the syringe and the tub contained samples of his semen.”

The court was told the woman immediately contacted the police and after officers seized the items a forensic analysis found her DNA on the syringe.

Albutt, c/o the Scottish Veterans, Canongate, Edinburgh, was arrested and after appearing in court the following day he was granted bail with conditions not to contact the woman. But the infantryman breached the bail order the same day by sending the woman a social media message at around 5.30pm on October 19, 2023.

Albutt admitted to sexually assaulting the woman, and attempting to assault her with a syringe containing semen on occasions between October 1, 2022 and October 18, 2023.

He also pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting the woman by punching her to the body and to breaching bail conditions when he appeared at the capital’s sheriff court on Thursday.

Sheriff Kevin McCarron placed Albutt on the sex offenders register on an interim basis and deferred full sentence to February next year. The sheriff allowed Albutt to be released on bail and said consideration of a non-harassment order will be continued to the sentencing hearing.