RAPIST GIVEN 14 MONTHS FOR GUN STUNT
A RAPIST who threatened his victim's family by pretending to shoot at them in court was today given an extra jail term.George Murphy, 42, was convicted in February of raping a 52-year-old woman at her home while her husband, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, slept in the next room.
As he was being led to the cells at the High Court in Glasgow after the guilty verdict, Murphy turned to face the woman's sister and daughter sitting in the public benches.
He pointed at them as if he were firing a gun.
Advocate depute Vinit Khurana, prosecuting, said: "This was a threatening gesture.
They felt extremely threatened and felt they were going to be shot." Today the shooting gesture earned Murphy an extra 14 months in jail, on top of a 10-year sentence he has already been given for the rape.
Murphy, from Anfield, Liverpool, admitted a breach of the peace charge.
When he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh today, solicitor advocate Liam O'Donnell told the judge: "He very much apologises for his conduct." The court heard Murphy, who had been staying in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, was feeling "aggrieved and frustrated" at the guilty verdict which followed the three-day rape trial.
Murphy's 10-year sentence for raping and stealing from the woman will only begin after he has completed a six-year term for indecent assault and robbery in England.
Through his lawyer, he asked Lord Mackay to give him a sentence for the breach of the peace which could run alongside the jail terms he is already serving.
But the judge ruled out a concurrent sentence.
"The court cannot accept or allow people to behave in the way that you did," Lord Mackay told Murphy.
"I accept, however, that it was committed on the spur of the moment.
It was a reaction to what had happened earlier in court." Lord Mackay said he accepted Murphy was now apologetic but his gesture had caused "considerable upset" to the two women - who cannot be named to protect the identity of the rape victim.
