Former bodyguard jailed for rape

The High Court heard both Abbas and his victim give evidence

A bodyguard to the former premier of Pakistan has been jailed for eight years for raping a 21-year-old woman.

Ghulam Abbas, 37, was found guilty of raping the woman in his flat in Glasgow at 0400 GMT on March 17, last year.

At the High Court in Glasgow, he claimed his victim agreed to have sex with him.

Sentencing, temporary judge Rita Rae QC said: "Rape is an appalling crime. You took advantage of a young woman in a very vulnerable state."

The court heard Abbas, then a security guard at Buchanan Bus Station, found the woman outside his flat in North Gower Street.

Temporary judge Rae said: "It must have been obvious to you she was wearing very flimsy clothing, was barefoot and had no idea where she was.

"You got her into your flat on the pretence of helping her, gave her more alcohol and then raped her when she was in no position to resist."

Deportation order

Abbas was placed on the sex offenders' register and faces deportation.

He was convicted of rape and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by fleeing to England.

In evidence, the woman said she had been drinking heavily during a night out with friends and became separated from them.

She said she could not remember going into Abbas's flat and woke up to find him having sex with her.

Abbas was arrested a month after the attack in a Bradford restaurant where he was working as a waiter.

He claimed he left Scotland when he saw police outside his flat because he thought they were immigration officials.

Abbas told solicitor advocate Billy Lavelle, defending, he was a policeman in Pakistan from 1993 to 1998, a member of the anti-terrorist squad and a personal bodyguard to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Abbas said when General Pervez Musharraf took over he left the country for the UK.

He arrived to the UK on a six-month visa and his appeal to remain in the country was refused in 2002.

At the time of the rape he was an illegal immigrant.