In 2019, the Offender Database reported that Sean Moynihan, then 34, was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of the attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl. Moynihan, a “despicable” serial rapist and personal trainer, was convicted following a decade-long investigation by the National Rape Task Force into a brutal knife-point attack carried out on a Paisley cycle track in 2008.
The court heard that on October 2, 2008, the victim was walking near Castle Gardens when Moynihan, pretending to be a jogger, grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her throat. He forced her into a secluded area of trees and nettles, ordered her to strip naked, and threatened to stab her if she asked “silly questions.” The victim described the ordeal as a terrifying encounter where she fully expected to be killed.
During the trial, the jury watched a police interview where Moynihan attempted an elaborate “cover-up.” He claimed the encounter was consensual and that he had met the girl previously. To support his lie, he recruited personal details about her family and friends—information prosecutors proved he had actually harvested from her Facebook page after the attack to manufacture a false “friendship.” Judge Bill Dunlop described Moynihan’s cold, calculated planning to avoid detection as “chilling.”
Moynihan’s criminal history identifies him as one of Scotland’s most dangerous predators. He was then 24 when he was jailed in 2009 for the rape of a 16-year-old girl who mistakenly entered his car thinking it was a taxi; he drove her to Gleniffer Braes and raped her. In 2014, he was sentenced for the knifepoint rape of an 18-year-old woman in Johnstone. He also gained notoriety within the prison system for a violent cell attack on serial killer Peter Tobin.
Following his latest conviction in 2019, Sean Moynihan remains incarcerated. He is a registered sex offender for life and is managed under the highest level of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in Renfrewshire. Due to his status as a serial rapist who uses weapons and digital stalking to facilitate his crimes, he is subject to permanent, intensive monitoring by Police Scotland and the National Probation Service to ensure he can never target another victim.
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