Ex-footballer tried to rape woman

Sentence on Reynolds was deferred and he was granted bail

A former footballer with Airdrie United and Clyde has been convicted of attempting to rape a woman in Glasgow.

Paul Reynolds, 19, from Moodiesburn in Glasgow, had claimed that his 20-year-old victim wanted to have sex with him in the city's Midland Street last May.

But the High Court in Glasgow heard how he had to be dragged off the screaming woman by two bouncers with his trousers and underwear round his ankles.

Sentence on Reynolds was deferred for reports, before he was granted bail.

During evidence Reynolds told the court that he met the woman in Play nightclub in Renfield Street, Glasgow.

He claimed to have spent most of the night with her although he did not know her name.

Reynolds said they left the club together, started walking hand-in-hand and in Midland Street they stopped and began kissing against a wall.

He claimed the woman wanted to have sex with him but was reluctant to do so without contraception.

Reynolds told the court that he had been "trying to talk her round" and was not trying to rape her when he was pulled away by nightclub bouncers and pinned to the ground.

Loud screams

But his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she thought she was going to share a taxi home when Reynolds attacked her.

She said that he struggled with her, pushed her to the ground, pulled her tights down and attempted to rape her.

The woman tried to roll into a ball and screamed loudly. Her cries were heard by two men who raced to the scene from nearby Jamaica Street.

But two bouncers from Rockers had already grabbed Reynolds and pulled him off.

They then restrained him on the ground until the police arrived.

Reynolds, who now works in a call centre, was at Clyde for two years from the age of 16 and then went to Airdrie United part-time.

He gained SFA certificates to coach 12 to 18-year-olds and had recently been offered a football scholarship in the USA.

Temporary judge Sean Murphy QC deferred sentence on Reynolds until later this month and ordered background reports before granting him bail.