Inverness sex attacker jailed for assaults on teenager and toddler

INVERNESS SEX ATTACKER JAILED FOR ASSAULTS ON TEENAGER AND TODDLER

A repeat sex offender has been jailed for nine years for attacks on girls aged three and 15 years old.

Christopher Ross (65) raped the teenager in Inverness in 2006 and sexually assaulted the younger girl in a Highland village in October 2022.

He had denied the accusations but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty of both offences last month.

Sentencing Ross today, judge Simon Collins KC told him he had caused "lasting psychological and emotional damage" to his older victim.

The court heard that the woman who was attacked when she was 15 did not report it until 2022, but she told a friend at school the following day she was "shocked" and "traumatised".

The friend indicated the victim was drinking at Ross’s flat in Hill Street, Inverness, and was raped after being supposed to be taken home.

After police involvement, she identified Ross in a line-up.

Ross claimed ignorance of the woman and denied assaulting the younger girl, insisting, "I would never touch her that way." The jury's guilty verdict was supported by evidence of his previous conviction for indecent assault in 1999, which resulted in a non-custodial sentence.

During sentencing, Ross was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.