Rape victim's night of fear Bound, gagged, and driven 130 miles to satisfy the sexual fantasy of a sado-masochist

Mr Craig Scott, advocate-depute, told the High Court in Edinburgh that at around 1am on Sunday, March 17, this year, the 23-year-old victim was making her way to her boyfriend's home after a night out in Aberdeen but was having trouble getting a taxi.

Clark drew alongside in his Mercedes and asked her for directions. Clark's wife Elaine was sitting in the front passenger seat. Clark offered her a lift and she decided to accept because there was a woman in the car and she thought it would be safe.

He drove towards Bridge of Don but took a dark farm road, where he stopped the car and grabbed hold of the woman. On Clark's instructions, his wife bound and gagged the victim with sticky tape.

She was then placed on the floor of the car and covered with a blanket as Clark began the journey to his home in Constitution Street, Leith.

On the way, he stopped at a petrol station in Dundee and, while he was out of the car, the victim managed to ask Mrs Clark what was going to happen to her. The tape had come slightly loose from her mouth.

``Mrs Clark sought to reassure her,'' said Mr Scott. ``She told her not to worry and that she would call the police whenever she got a chance. Throughout the remainder of the journey, the wife held the victim's hand by way of some sort of reassurance.''

Once they got to Clark's flat, he tried to engage her in conversation before he ushered her into a bedroom, where he removed her clothing, apart from her bra and pants. He tied her wrists to the bed using pieces of towelling that had already been put in place.

At this stage, the victim was shaking with fear but Clark apparently thought she was cold and covered her with a quilt.

Mrs Clark left the flat to collect a briefcase from the car and while she was out used a mobile phone to call a friend, who in turn alerted police.

When she got back to the flat, Mrs Clark was able to tell the victim what she had done and that the police would be there in about five minutes.

The victim tried to play for time by asking to go to the bathroom but when she got back to the bedroom she was tied up again. Clark then stripped off and asked how many men she had slept with.

At Clark's instigation, his wife produced two vibrators, which he used on the woman, and a small bottle of amyl nitrate from the briefcase.

As he raped her, he apparently sniffed from the amyl nitrate and told his wife to hold the bottle to the victim's nose so that she could inhale the vapours.

At that moment, the police arrived in response to the earlier phone call. Mrs Clark showed them into the bedroom, where they found Clark naked at the foot of the bed. He immediately put his hands in the air and called out: ``I won't resist, I won't resist.''

Mr Scott added: ``As far as the victim is concerned, she indicates that throughout the course of this entire ordeal she was terrified as to what might become of her.

``The picture is one of a man who, through gross depravity, chose to indulge himself on an innocent member of the public......''

Police inquiries revealed that for nearly a year before this incident Clark's wife had been working as a prostitute at his instigation, earning about #900 a week, and he had been living off her immoral earnings.

Mr Derek Ogg, defence counsel, praised the victim for the ``tremendous presence of mind and courage'' she had shown throughout her ordeal.

He told the court that the accused frequently acted out a fantasy sex life involving sado-masochism with a consenting partner but, on the night in question, he had taken a combination of cannabis, cocaine, and alcohol.

``What happened was that he crossed the line between what happens harmlessly behind the privacy of a bedroom door with consent to what he accepts was an outrageous invasion of a person's privacy.''

Clark admitted abducting and raping the woman and living off the earnings of prostitution.

Lady Cosgrove will pass sentence today.