PERVERT WHO RAPED GIRL 300 TIMES JAILED FOR EIGHT YEARS
A MAN who raped a teenage girl about 300 times during a prolonged campaign of abuse was jailed for eight years today.David Hiddleston, now 74, started abusing his victim when she was just 13.The girl's suffering began around 36 years ago and went on for almost seven years.
Hiddleston, from Heathhall, Dumfries, previously admitted raping his victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - on various occasions between May 28 1973 and April 23 1980.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Malcolm today told Hiddleston that he is guilty of a "sustained campaign of rape and abuse" and it was hard to imagine more "selfish and disgraceful" behaviour.
"All of this has had a devastating impact on her over many years," he said of the victim.
Hiddleston's victim has been left with low self-esteem and low confidence and now has clinical depression as a consequence of her ordeal.
The abuse emerged nine years ago when the woman told her doctor.
Lord Malcolm was told at an earlier hearing that she recalled trying to push her attacker away but he was too strong.
She worked out that he raped her 250 times between the ages of 13 and 18, and a further 50 to 60 times when she was aged 18 and 19, the judge heard.
When she eventually contacted police, Hiddleston told officers she was telling the truth and said he had "forced" himself on her.
Solicitor advocate Bill McVicar told the court today that the offences were "grave, repeated and prolonged".
But he urged the judge to take into account a number of factors, including Hiddleston's age and health difficulties, and the age of the offences.
The lawyer said: "He has pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity.
He has in so doing, in my submission, demonstrated his remorse and regret for his conduct in the most concrete way possible." He added that his client, who has no previous convictions, gave a "full and frank" admission to police last year.
Hiddleston had also made a serious attempt to take his own life, Mr McVicar told the court.
He told Lord Malcolm: "He wishes that this never happened but obviously he cannot change what has been done." Passing sentence the judge told Hiddleston he took on board what had been said on his behalf but he also told him that the author of a background report "expresses the view that you have little insight into the consequences of your behaviour, nor any real remorse for it".
He went on: "It is clear that the nature and gravity of your conduct means that only a lengthy custodial sentence would be appropriate." The sentence would have been 12 years imprisonment if it were not for Hiddleston's plea of guilty at an early stage.
Hiddleston has also been placed on the sex offenders' register.
