Leith double rapist targeted two defenceless victims
Christopher Murray, 25, attacked two victims months apart at a house in Leith.
He first targeted a 15-year-old girl who was asleep and intoxicated when he pulled down her trousers and before raping her in November 2016.Murray then repeatedly raped a woman at a flat in the city after she also fell asleep in incidents between February and July the following year.He had denied the offences at an earlier trial but was found guilty of raping both victims - despite still maintaining that he is innocent of any crimes. Murray, formerly of Cables Wynd, was acquitted of a string of further charges that he originally faced.Defence counsel Tony Lenehan told the High Court in Edinburgh that Murray told the writer of a background report prepared on him ahead of sentencing that he did not accept the jury’s verdict.He also said that Murray did not have a particularly happy upbringing and spent time in local authority care.Mr Lenehan said: “When he was released into adulthood he was perhaps not as well equipped as one would hope a child to be.”The defence counsel said that the case had brought “a first taste of the punishment of custody” for Murray. He added: “Each month will have the maximum punishing effect.”The judge, Lord Turnbull, said: “It is obvious in these circumstances I must take a serious view of the matter and only a significant custodial sentence could be imposed.”Lord Turnbull said that although Murray was convicted of “very serious sexual offences concerning two different women” he was not persuaded that it was necessary to impose an extended sentence on him, where custody is followed by a period of supervision.Murray was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.Following the case, Detective Inspector Donnie MacLeod from the Divisional Rape Investigation Unit in Edinburgh said: “Christopher Murray targeted the vulnerabilities of others, firstly when he targeted a teenage girl, before then subjecting another female to serious sexual assaults.“Had these females not come forward, his crimes could have gone unchallenged and I wish to thank them for their bravery and co-operation with our inquiries.“We treat all reports of sexual crime with the umost seriousness and will conduct a robust investigation whenever such offences are brought to our attention.”