Maryhill man jailed for life for rape and violence against two women

A man who forced a victim to jump 40 feet from a window during a murder bid has been given a life sentence.

David Smith left the 29-year-old woman believing that she was going to be killed and her only escape was to plunge from the fourth floor flat onto concrete.

The victim sustained injuries in the fall but survived to testify against Smith who was convicted of a catalogue of rape and violence against her and a second woman in Glasgow.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh imposed an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) on Smith who was earlier convicted of 14 charges, including eight offences of rape and one of attempted murder.

Lord Kinclaven told Smith that an experienced psychiatrist who produced a report on him concluded that "by a comfortable margin you have reached the threshold for high risk".

The judge told him that an OLR constituted a sentence of imprisonment for an indeterminate period. He added: "In your case the risk criteria are clearly met."

He told Smith that he had read a victim impact statement from the woman he tried to murder which set out the physical, emotional, psychological and financial impact his offending has had on her.

Lord Kinclaven ordered that Smith must serve a minimum term of five years in jail, but told him: "That does not mean that at the end of that five year period you will necessarily be released on licence."

Smith will only be released when parole authorities consider it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that he continue to be confined in prison.

The judge told Smith: "I have borne in mind there are no outstanding cases against you in the pipeline."

Defence solicitor advocate John Scott QC told the court: "He is an intelligent man who has the capacity for change."

The murder bid victim was subjected to a three month campaign of abuse and sexual violence by Smith in the lead up to the final attack on her on February 1 last year.

She said she was forced to take drastic action after Smith attacked her at a flat in Glasgow after he flew into a rage when he believed a stranger had smiled at her during a trip to the city's west end.

She said he subjected her to verbal abuse and added: "He also threatened to kidnap my daughter."

He repeatedly threatened to kill her and held a pair of hedge cutters to her face and yelled: "I'll kill you."

Smith pulled her hair and gripped her throat and chased her through the flat before she took refuge in a bathroom.

Advocate depute Mark McGuire told the earlier trial that "like Jack Nicholson in The Shining" Smith then plunged a blade through the closed door narrowly missing the woman.

The court heard that the woman thought he was really going to kill and plunged from the window in an attempt to escape.

She suffered six broken ribs, collapsed lungs, a fractured skull, a shattered breast bone and a serious leg injury in the fall.

Smith, of Maryhill, in Glasgow, was also found to have subjected a second woman to an ordeal of rape and abuse between 2011 and 2015.

During it he would interrogate the victim about her movements when she was not with him and locked her in flats in the city to prevent her leaving.

The woman was subjected to a rape on Boxing Day in 2014 when she was punched and repeatedly kicked and during another sex attack she was seized by the throat and lost consciousness.

Smith will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely following his sentencing.