John Houston, aged 39, a businessman from Fife, has been convicted of multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, and threatening behaviour following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The convictions follow a Police Scotland investigation into a sustained series of sexual attacks committed against two female victims at properties in Leven between July 2020 and October 2023.
The court heard distressing evidence regarding the first victim, who was subjected to rape and multiple sexual assaults by Houston.
The jury was told that during one specific incident, Houston carried on sexually assaulting the woman after she had explicitly withdrawn her consent.
Houston targeted a second victim between December 2022 and October 2023.
The prosecution detailed how Houston repeatedly subjected the second woman to sexual assaults, which included raping her whilst she was asleep.
Throughout the week-long trial, Houston pleaded not guilty and maintained that he had done nothing unlawful.
Houston asserted in evidence that he was “100%” certain he had not broken any laws and claimed: “I didn’t make anybody do anything.”
When challenged by the prosecution on why both complainants testified that they had pleaded with him to stop during the attacks, Houston told the court: “I didn’t hear them once ever say ‘stop’ once.”
Houston attempted to deflect the allegations by alleging that the two women had communicated with one another to orchestrate a false conspiracy against him.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury rejected Houston’s claims and returned guilty verdicts on charges of rape, sexual assault, and threatening behaviour.
Following the verdict, advocate depute Fiona Drysdale KC informed the court that Houston possessed previous convictions for unrelated offences.
Presiding judge Matt Jackson KC deferred passing sentence to allow for the preparation of background criminal justice social work reports.
However, the judge moved immediately to terminate Houston’s bail, addressing the defendant directly from the bench: “Your status has changed. You will be remanded in custody.”
Houston was remanded into prison custody and will be brought back before the High Court in Edinburgh on 15 September 2026 to receive his custodial sentence.
Image Credit – Anonymous Artist Impression
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