Rapist faces jail after violent sex attacks

A vicious bully who preyed on women and children during more than a decade of abuse was warned he faced a lengthy jail sentence today.

Hugh McGrogan was on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. Picture: Bill Henry

Hugh McGrogan perpetrated a catalogue of rape, sexual assault and physical violence against victims in Edinburgh.

One child victim of McGrogan’s told his trial that he would arrive drunk at her home and rape her.

She was subjected to an ordeal of sexual abuse by McGrogan, who she described as “a bully”, from the age of seven at houses in the city’s Craigmiller and Liberton areas. The girl was raped and made to carry out sex acts on him.

Unemployed McGrogan, 56, formerly of Upper Kessock Street, Inverness, was found guilty of a total of 10 charges of rape, attempted rape, indecent assault and assault, at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

A judge told him: “You have been convicted or a series of extremely serious offences.”

Lady Scott said: “It is inevitable that you are facing a substantial term of imprisonment.”

McGrogan, known as Shug, raped and assaulted two women and tried to rape a third at a primary school. He also raped the schoolgirl and sexually abused a boy during his catalogue of offending between 1982 and 1995.

One woman told the court that McGrogan had stayed at her home for a period and that it was alright in the beginning.

But she said it changed and he began hitting her and sexually assaulting her. She said: “He was violent with drink in him. There was a point where he tried to strangle me.”

She said: “He just spoke to me like a piece of dirt.” She said she had black eyes “a couple of times”.

The 50-year-old said that on one occasion McGrogan had been out drinking and threw her onto a bed on his return. She added: “He forced himself on me”

“I tried to struggle to get away,” she said.

“I told him to stop it and to get off and he wouldn’t. I tried to push him off,” the woman told jurors.

She was asked what McGrogan did after he finished having sex with her and she replied: “He just laughed in my face.”

The woman said she had bruising after the incident but said she did not go to the doctor and added: “I was frightened to because of him.”

Another woman who was punched, kicked and slapped by McGrogan suffered a burst mouth. She said: “He didn’t need a drink before he hit me.”

She told the court that he had sex with her when she did not want to do it.

On one occasion he demanded sex from the woman and grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to a bed.

Advocate depute Alan Mackay accused McGrogan of targeting vulnerable people for abuse and sexual assault.

The court heard that McGrogan has been held in custody since May this year when he made an initial appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and bid to secure his release on bail was rejected.

Lady Scott deferred sentence on the sex offender and called for a background report to be prepared with an assessment of any risk he may pose to the public.

McGrogan was remanded in custody and placed on the sex offenders’ register.