Pensioner who drugged and sexually assaulted women in Dundee jailed

A pensioner who befriended women at a soup kitchen and at church before sexually assaulting them while they slept was jailed for five years.

Terence Cox photographed some of his victims naked and two believed he had spiked their coffee.

One woman had to seek medical treatment for internal injuries.

The 67-year old was placed on the sex offenders' register for life in addition to the jail term and made subject to an order requiring him to be supervised by social workers for 18 months after his eventual release.

Dundee Sheriff Court was told that he had been assessed as "of high risk of re-offending".

Cox gained the trust of his victims by lending some of them money, and allowing women, some of whom were battling drug addiction, poverty and mental health problems, to sleep at his home, before the attacks.

Sheriff Thomas Hughes told him he had considered remitting the case to the High Court for sentence.

He said: "This course of conduct was completely and utterly unacceptable."

Cox, of Hilltown, Dundee, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting four women, two of whom he drugged - an aggravation under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 which outlaws the clandestine administration of a substance for sexual purposes. The incidents took place between April 2016 and May 2019.

The court heard Cox had been in an on-off relationship with his first victim and had moved into her home.

One evening in 2016 she settled down to watch TV on the sofa and after drinking a coffee Cox had made, her next memory was waking up naked in bed.

Prosecutor Stewart Duncan said: "She asked the accused about it and he told her she'd had an epileptic fit and he had put her to bed.

"Some time later she was looking at his phone and saw naked photographs of herself."

She later found bruises on her thighs that looked like finger marks.

His second victim was a friend that he had met through attending the Eagles Wings Trust at the Elim Church on Douglas Street, Dundee, which operates a mobile soup kitchen. She was lonely and on a methadone prescription, the court heard.

He offered to lend her household goods, and she would take Valium at Cox's home. On an occasion in September 2016 she woke up naked in his bed - with Cox naked beside her.

She was "upset" and demanded to know what happened, and Cox said she fell asleep in the living room and he removed her clothes because he didn't want her to get sweaty.

Mr Duncan said the victim could not recall any of this happening. She was later told by another person that Cox had shown them images of her lying naked.

The court heard both women believed Cox had given them spiked coffee.

A third woman, who Cox met at a local church, had been staying with him for a fortnight after having her electricity cut off.

In August 2018, she awoke to find Cox standing at the side of the bed she was sleeping in and touching her genitals.

The court heard Cox knew his fourth victim for many years and would often lend her money.

She stayed overnight at his home and woke up to find him lying behind her naked and sexually abusing her. She swore at him and told him to get out of the room.

Mr Duncan, the depute fiscal, said: "She later said words to the effect that his conduct was unacceptable.

"The accused replied, 'What you think I am? Some sort of beast or something?'"

Cox showed no emotion as he was led to the cells.

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