Brian McLintock: Brutal rapist subjected four women to 12 years of attacks and abuse

A man who subjected four women to a terrifying 12 year campaign of physical, verbal and sexual abuse is facing a potential life sentence for his crimes.

Brian McLintock, 30, treated his victims - who cannot be named for legal reasons - like “trash” when he preyed on them at locations in Edinburgh between 2006 and 2018.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how McLintock repeatedly raped one woman on various occasions between January 2014 and June 2018.

He also repeatedly assaulted the woman by punching and kicking her on the head, pulling her hair and burning her with hair straighteners.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how McLintock repeatedly raped one woman

McLintock then pushed her to the ground and stamped on her head. The woman told jurors that she lost teeth during the incident.

She said: “I rarely smile. It knocked my confidence. I don’t smile in front of people.”

McLintock, of Edinburgh, spent most of the trial disturbing proceedings by shouting at lawyers who were acting in the case. He sacked his solicitor and had to instruct a new legal representative.

He denied any wrongdoing and believed his victims were telling lies against him.

However, at the end of his three week long trial on Friday, jurors - who observed proceedings in a cinema five miles from the court building - returned guilty verdicts on 14 charges for offences including rape, sexual assault and physical assault.

McLintock still maintained his innocence shouting at a court room video screen showing the lawyers the jurors.

He said: “There’s no evidence against me. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. But you’re gonna jail me for life when there’s no evidence. I don’t believe it.”

Lord Sandison deferred sentence for the court to obtain reports on McLintock’s background. He also ordered a report to see if the accused met the criteria for an Order of Lifelong Sentence.

The sentence means that people who are sentenced to it are released into the community once parole board bosses are satisfied that they no longer pose a threat to public safety.

Explaining what an OLR was, Lord Sandison told jurors: “I have called for a report which may lead to something called an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

"It shares a lot of the characteristics of a discretionary life sentence.”

During proceedings, the court heard how McLintock was brought to justice after his victims plucked up enough courage to tell the police about their ordeals.

He targeted his first victim in the Magdalene area of Edinburgh and he would repeatedly assault her by spitting on her, pulling her by the hair and repeatedly punching her on the body. One of the attacks left her severely injured and in another incident, he cut her clothing off her body with a knife.

McLintock also sexually assaulted the woman.

He also raped his second victim on various occasions in January 2014 and 2018 and also physically assaulted the woman inflicting injuries on her with items like hair straighteners.

In July 2018, McLintock abducted one women and held her at an address in Edinburgh. During this incident he punched the woman on her head and body, kneed her on the head and seized her by the throat and choked her.

On Christmas Day 2018, another woman ended up hospital after sustaining a concussion in another attack. He seized her by the throat, choked her and repeatedly struck her on the head and body.

McLintock also breached bail by contacting this woman via social media in October 2019 - a judge had ordered him not to contact her. He also went to her home.

In her closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Dorothy Bain QC urged jurors to convict McLintock for his crimes. She said that McLintock had acted as if his victims were “trash”.

She said: “Victims of physical and sexual abuse who have had the strength to come forward and describe what has happened to them deserve to be listened to.

“I ask you to consider their evidence with care and respect.

“In the different pieces of evidence given by the complainers, they form components of a persistent course of conduct engaged in by the accused.

“As such the Crown have proved the charges of physical, verbal and sexual abuse charges on the indictment.

“You took an oath to well and truly try the accused based on the evidence. And returning verdicts of guilty as the Crown now seeks, I say to you that it will be that in this most important case you will be fulfilling the requirements of the oath you took because it will be a true verdict; it will be a verdict that will be based on the evidence that was put before you.”

Following conviction, McLintock’s lawyer Gordon Jackson QC said he’d reserve his mitigation for the sentencing hearing.

McLintock will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on August 27 2021.

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