Abductor had attacked before Masked man raped two girls twice

It was 4am when the girls in Peterhead were confronted by Brain Geddes, wearing a balaclava and with only his eyes and mouth showing.

They were raped in the tent. He then dragged them out, forced them to put their own clothing over their heads so they could not see, and led them one in each hand to his empty flat.

Once there, he slapped and punched the girls before raping them again. Finally, he let them dress and leave - ``the only human thing he did'', a senior police officer said.

The girls made their way home to waken their parents at 7am.

They had been unaware of the terrifying ordeal their daughters had faced and had believed them to be sleeping safely in the tent.

In spite of the trauma, the girls were ``brilliant witnesses'' and gave the police so much detail about their attacker and the flat in which Geddes had held them that in less than eight hours he was in custody, arrested in a friend's home.

Detective Inspector Iain Alley, himself the father of a 12-year-old girl, led the investigation. He said: ``Clearly, crimes of this seriousness have badly affected them but the two girls were very lucid when the detectives interviewed them.''

The girls were interviewed by police based in Peterhead who have had training in dealing with such cases.

``However, the girls have clearly been very affected by their ordeal and who knows in this or any similar case how long those effects will take to wear off, if ever they do.''

Mr Alley said Geddes had made no effort to prevent the girls leaving after he had finished what he set out to do, nor did he make any effort to prevent them from telling anyone, and he admitted he had no idea why he decided to let them go.

Mr Alley thought the whole of Peterhead had been affected by Geddes's crimes.

``It is a very close-knit community and this is a very shocking thing to have happened anywhere.''

A MASKED man raped two terrified little girls after using a knife to rip open the side of the tent where they were spending the night in a back garden. He then abducted them, and raped them again.

Brian Geddes carried out the brutal attack on his victims, aged 11 and 12, the day before Howard Hughes was jailed for life at Chester Crown Court for raping and murdering seven-year-old Sophie Hook after snatching her from a tent in her uncle's garden.

One of Geddes's victims has been so traumatised by what happened that she would have been unable to come to court to give evidence against him. The other is still so scared of him that she would have had to tell the story of what happened to her from behind a screen.

In 1990, Geddes had been jailed for 30 months at the High Court in Aberdeen for indecently assaulting a 20-year-old woman in her home in Peterhead and threatening her nine-month-old son. The woman woke up in bed to find Geddes standing over her wearing a face-covering balaclava.

Yesterday, Geddes, 35, from Peterhead, appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh and pled guilty to raping both girls twice. Sentence will be passed later this month.

He admitted that, in the early hours of July 17 this year, in a rear garden at Peterhead, with his face masked, he forced entry to the tent where they were spending the night by ripping the side with a knife then assaulting both girls.

He threatened them with the knife, forced them to take off their clothes, committed a series of indecent assaults and raped them both.

He then abducted the girls intending to commit further sexual assaults, dragged them from the tent, forced them to cover their eyes and took them to a house in Peterhead, where he held them captive.

There, he again assaulted the 12-year-old, forced her to take off her clothes, slapped and punched her about the face, raped her and forced her to commit an indecent act.

He then again assaulted her friend, forced her to take off her clothes, punched and slapped her before raping her for a second time.

The Crown accepted a not guilty plea to another charge that on April 27 last year, at a house in Peterhead, he had assaulted a woman with intent to rape.

Geddes was due to go to trial next week and the case was called before Lord Ross, the Lord Justice Clerk, yesterday, for the Crown to ask for the 11-year-old girl's evidence to be given behind screens and for evidence about the 12-year-old to be led without her having to come to court at all.

At the moment, the 12-year-old cannot talk about the offences because her mind is blocking out everything that happened to her on the night of July 17. Doctors took the view that she would have needed lengthy specialist treatment and therapy before she would have been able to testify.

The 11-year-old was prepared to try to give evidence in court, although she still has a genuine fear of Geddes. A nurse who has had regular contact with the girl took the view that if she saw Geddes in court, she would probably have gone into a state of shock and relived the trauma of what happened to her.

The Crown felt she would be better able to give evidence from behind a screen which would have spared her further trauma and suffering.

However, Mrs Mhairi Richards, defence counsel, told the court Geddes was pleading guilty to the rape and abduction of the girls.

She added that, given the terms of the charge, the court might consider it appropriate to call for background reports, including a psychiatric report.

The Crown agreed and Lord Ross will pass sentence on November 28 after hearing a full narrative from the Crown and a plea in mitigation.

In the Sophie Hook case, the judge told 6ft 8in Howard Hughes: ``You are a fiend. Your crimes are every parent's worst nightmare. My recommendation is that you are never, never, ever released.''