Edinburgh man tied woman to a bed before launching terrifying attack

A man who trussed a woman to a bed moments before subjecting her to a violent rape ordeal has been jailed for 15 years.

Kevin Hood, 34, attacked the female, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at an address in Edinburgh in August 2021. The high court in the city heard last month how Hood subjected the woman to a terrifying ordeal during the attack.

He demanded her mobile telephone password to see who she had been speaking to. The court heard that Hood then prevented her from leaving a bedroom and fastened her ankles and wrists to a bed, detaining her there against her will.

Hood then started to choke the woman before raping her. But Hood's victim plucked up enough courage to speak to the police who launched an investigation into his activities.

Detectives then found enough evidence against Hood to bring him to justice.

On Wednesday, the court heard how Hood had told a social worker tasked with finding out more about his background that he used sex workers. He also told the social worker that he liked to indulge in sex which included restraints and strangulations.

Judge Lord Arthurson told Hood that as he had been assessed at being at high risk of re-offending, the only sentence available to the court was prison.

Lord Arthurson also told Hood that the risk he posed to women in general was such that he'd have been supervised by the authorities for 10 years following his release from custody.

Passing sentence, Lord Arthurson said: "This crime is one of the worst that I've had to deal with in my judicial career. This was a sustained assault using sickening acts of violence undertaken with the purpose of controlling your victim. Given the circumstances of the offence, the only disposal that can be in the circumstances is the imposition of an extremely long custodial one. The sentence being imposed is to punish you, reflect society's revulsion at such crimes and to deter others from committing them."

The story emerged on last month when a jury found Hood, who lives in Edinburgh city centre, guilty of raping the woman. He had pleaded guilty at an earlier stage in proceedings to charges of subjecting the woman he raped to threatening behaviour.

He also pleaded guilty to assaulting another woman and subjecting her to threatening behaviour in 2018.

Following conviction, prosecutor Richard Goddard KC told Lord Arthurson that prior to his arrest, Hood was unemployed.

Mr Goddard also said that the accused has appeared in court on previous occasions. He added: "The accused has a significant criminal record."

On Wednesday, Lord Arthurson also placed Hood on the Sex Offenders Register for life.