Nine years for city siege rapist

Sean McKay earlier admitted the rape charge

A serial sex offender who raped a door-to-door saleswoman at knifepoint during a 13-hour siege has been jailed for at least nine years.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh also warned Sean McKay he would only be released when he was no longer thought to pose a risk to the public.

McKay, 41, held his 27-year-old victim prisoner at his flat in Edinburgh's Abbeyhill on 23 January.

Armed police were called to the scene and cordoned off the area overnight.

McKay was sentenced after earlier admitting raping his victim and holding her against her will.

The court had heard that McKay met the woman, who cannot be named, in the Sea Breeze cafe near his flat.

She later went to his property because she thought he wanted to buy some art.

You have accepted responsibility for a very serious offence Judge Lord Kinclaven

Once she was in the flat, he produced a large kitchen knife. Over the course of the next 13 hours the woman was raped repeatedly and indecently assaulted.

Judge Lord Kinclaven imposed a life-long restriction order - a form of life sentence to ensure close supervision after an offender is freed.

He ordered McKay to spend an minimum of nine years behind bars before he can be considered for release.

The judge told him: "You have accepted responsibility for a very serious offence.

"The responsibility for that offence is yours."

Solicitor advocate Robbie Burnett, defending, told how "warning bells" should have sounded louder as McKay's mental condition worsened during the days before the rape.

"For two weeks prior to the offence he reported to his psychiatrist that he could hear transient whispering voices, sometimes a male voice laughing hysterically," said Mr Burnett.

Serious offence

Just before the rape the voices told him to kill the woman.

McKay was stressed, unable to eat and had stopped taking his medication, the court heard.

"Although there were concerns about McKay's behaviour there were no indications he would go on to commit such a serious offence," said Mr Burnett.

Advocate Depute Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, told the court previously: "He told her that people were following him and wanted to do bad things to him.

"The complainer was shocked and terrified."

The court heard that in 1996 McKay was jailed for eight years for a sex attack on a 16-year-old boy, who was also held prisoner in McKay's flat.

And in 1991 McKay was given a five year sentence when another sex attack on a teenage boy sparked a massive 16-hour police siege.

McKay threatened to shoot a hostage as officers prepared an SAS-style attack using tear gas and stun grenades.

Psychiatrists had previously found him to be suffering from eight personality disorders, the court heard.