A TEENAGER who admitted the violent rape of a woman aged 51 in her own home was caught after a high-profile media appeal, a court heard.
Scott Johnston, 19, admitted forcing his victim to the ground, pinning her down, repeatedly striking her with an iron and raping her.
The attack took place at her home in Mount Florida Glasgow on December 8, 2013, the High Court in Glasgow was told.
Johnston, a first offender, came across the woman as she walked past Hampden Stadium where he had been at a Christmas party. He followed her to her flat where he raped her.
Police released a detailed description of the attacker and, after reading it, Johnston's employer contacted them. Forensic experts found DNA matching Johnston's on the victim's clothes and on a comb he dropped.
Advocate depute Kath Harper, prosecuting, told the court the 51-year-old had been out for the evening drinking, singing karaoke and dancing with a friend in the Beechwood Bar. She left about midnight and decided to walk home.
The court heard that Johnston, a green-keeper from East Kilbride, followed his victim from Hampden Stadium.
A friend of the woman, who spotted Johnston talking to her in the street, was so worried about her that he dialled 999.
Judge Lady Rae deferred sentence on Johnston until June 25.
Defence counsel Gordon Jackson will give a plea in mitigation then.
Johntone has been in custody since December 17 last year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article