Edinburgh cabbie jailed for raping woman as she slept
Rory Crawford will spend the next seven years behind bars.
An Edinburgh cabbie who raped a young woman as she slept has been jailed for seven years.
Rory Crawford went into a bedroom where the 21 year old victim was sleeping after a night out and carried out the sex assault.
The 34 year old had earlier denied raping the woman at a flat in the city on December 28 in 2014.
But a jury at his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh convicted him of the crime on a majority verdict.
A judge told him in jailing him today: "I have already made it plain I regard this crime as very grave and cowardly."
Michael O'Grady QC earlier told the cab driver: "Rape is always a hideous and cowardly crime."
Mr O'Grady said the offence brought "pain, distress and humiliation" for the victim.
The judge said the toll that Crawford's actions had taken on the woman was "all to clear to see".
Mr O'Grady said the crime he committed had "a sinister and rather predatory overtone which is disturbing".
Defence solicitor advocate John Keenan said: "He appreciates inevitably a custodial sentence must follow from his conviction on this offence."
Mr Keenan said Crawford had been assessed as a high risk but said that appeared to mainly relate to him continuing to maintain his innocence.
He said Crawford had not been jailed previously and while in prison had been prescribed medication.
Crawford was earlier placed on the sex offenders' register.