Man jailed for abduction and rape of girl, 15, in Edinburgh basement

Watch: CCTV shows rapist moments before Princes Street attack

A masked rapist who abducted a 15-year-old girl from an Edinburgh city centre bus stop has been jailed under a lifelong restriction order.

Aaron Strachan, 21, pulled a knife on the girl on the city's Princes Street in May last year, before marching her to a basement storage area and raping her.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that he also attacked a man with a hammer days later, and had a criminal record of violence, robbery and possession of weapons.

Strachan was jailed for a minimum of five years with an order for lifelong restriction (OLR). It means a parole board must decide if he is ever safe to be released.

Judge Michael O'Grady described Strachan's crimes as the "stuff of nightmares".

Strachan admitted raping the girl and charges of serious assault against two male victims in December last year.

The judge said he expected Strachan to be in custody or under supervision for the rest of his life.

Aaron Strachan, in a picture dating from 2019, was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh

The court was told how Strachan, wearing a balaclava, approached the 15-year-old at a bus stop on Lothian Road in the early hours of 25 May last year.

The girl, feeling uneasy, walked to Princes Street to get away from him.

She stopped at a bus stop outside the Marks and Spencer shop, however Strachan accosted her, demanding she handed over her phone and told her "not to scream".

He then produced a knife and threatened her, before grabbing her by the shoulders and marching her towards York Place, occasionally stopping to cover her eyes.

Strachan forced her down a set of steps to a basement area littered with wooden pallets and crates.

Strachan led the teenager to a basement storage area in Edinburgh's York Place

She was taken into a room strewn with rubbish, forced onto a mattress on a makeshift bed and raped.

Strachan warned her not to tell anyone about the attack or he would find her and hurt her.

He was caught days later after being spotted on a street by police officers.

Strachan, a former athlete with Edinburgh Athletic Club, also admitted repeatedly stabbing a man on the hand with a knife, causing severe injury, hours before the rape.

And he further pled guilty to attacking another man on the head with a claw hammer to the danger of his life on 28 May.

He was brought to the High Court for sentencing on 13 January this year, but fled the GEOAmey escort while being moved to a waiting vehicle.

Strachan admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice by breaking free from his handcuf