A vicious Burntisland paedophile rapist, Ricki Findleton, who suspended one of his victims over a live railway line from a bridge has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Ricki Findleton, 27, perpetrated the rape of two adolescents and the molestation of a 13-year-old girl over an eight-year period of abuse.
One victim, raped twice as a pregnant adolescent, was left apprehensive about the welfare of her unborn baby.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, a judge informed Ricki Findleton that his actions of aggression were “disturbing.”
Lady Haldane described a background report as “dispiriting reading,” as Ricki Findleton, from Burntisland, Fife, persisted in denying any culpability for his offences.
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During a prior trial, he asserted that he was the target of malicious falsehoods.
Ricki Findleton was convicted of 12 charges: four counts of rape, two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a minor, two counts of threatening or abusive behaviour, one count of assault, one count of abduction and assault, one count of sexual assault, and one count of indecent communication with a child.
The offences occurred at several addresses in Burntisland and Kirkcaldy, Fife, between 2011 to 2019.
The woman assaulted by Ricki Findleton while pregnant informed the court that during the second assault in 2011, she was weeping and in agony.
I was aware that he had used considerable energy. “I experienced significant bleeding,” she stated.
The 26-year-old woman stated: “I was eight months and two weeks pregnant.” I was fearful that my son had been injured. On that occasion, I visited the hospital to ensure my son’s well-being.
She informed the court that her bleeding was a consequence of the assault, not a complication related to her pregnancy.
Following the assault, she reported that Ricki Findleton remarked, “that was nice,” before proceeding to play on an Xbox and smoke a marijuana.
She stated that Ricki Findleton, who first engaged in sexual relations with her at the age of 15, subjected her to further abuse and assaults on multiple occasions.
She recounted an incident in Burntisland where he forcefully shoved her to the ground, lifted her by the ankles to align her with his shoulders and suspended her from a bridge above a railway line.
He engaged in sexual relations with a second woman, now 22 years old, when she was a minor and subsequently raped her, including after the birth of her baby in 2016.
In a separate incident, a 13-year-old girl got a message in 2019 in which Findleton expressed a strong desire to engage in sexual relations with her. She stated, “He was messaging me, expressing how beautiful I am.”
The adolescent reported that he transmitted an indecent image to her and subjected her to molestation. She informed the police, “I simply do not wish for this to occur to another girl.”
Lady Haldane stated: “It was evidently distressing for the initial two complainants, especially, to present their testimony, and they exhibited remarkable bravery in doing so.”
She stated that Ricki Findleton had even proposed that the victims were incentivised to testify against him for “financial gain”.
In addition to his prison sentence, the judge mandated that he be subjected to monitoring for an additional five years under an extended sentence.
She informed him that he would be subject to a licence during that term, and any breach of restrictions would render him liable to be reincarcerated to complete the entire sentence in imprisonment.
Ricki Findleton was additionally registered as a sex offender for life.
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