Not really a trade story, and the detail regarding the taxi trip is scant (highlighted below). But reads to me like a classic scenario that all the safeguarding training is supposed to flag up to drivers.
Although I don't think safeguarding training is a thing up here in Scotland
But would be interesting to know where the driver picked this girl up from, how she seemed to him, etc.
Crack addict raped 14-year-old who came to his Dundee flat for cannabishttps://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... -cannabis/Dylan Stirling was jailed for eight years for the heinous child rape.A crack addict raped an “isolated, vulnerable and very, very scared” 14-year-old girl who arrived at his Dundee flat to get drugs from him.
“Remorseless” Dylan Stirling was given an extended sentence and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Just five months after being released from jail for another crime, “self-serving” Stirling struck when his young victim took a late night cab to his Charleston home in search of cannabis.Stirling, 26, was found guilty by majority following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in December.
After the June 8 2024 attack the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, fled and alerted a shop security guard.
Sentencing had been deferred for Stirling to be interviewed by social workers and he appeared at the High Court in Stirling via a video link from HMP Perth.
Victim ‘isolated and very, very scared’Stirling’s solicitor advocate Peter Barr noted the jury had deleted part of the charge which alleged his client had abducted his victim.
Judge Lady Ross imposed an extended sentence of 11 years, eight years of which will be served in custody.
The sentence was backdated to May 2025.
She placed high-risk Stirling on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and put an non-harassment order in place to protect his victim from any contact for the remainder of hers.
Lady Ross said: “The fact that it could have been worse doesn’t really take away from the gravity of this.
“So far as the abduction is concerned, it might be suggested that it didn’t really matter that she wasn’t locked in because she was absolutely terrified and wasn’t able to leave out of fear.
“Your victim was a child. The circumstances of this offence are horrific.
“The complainer took a taxi to your flat in the middle of the night. She thought you would be able to provide her with something to do with cannabis.“She was isolated, vulnerable and very, very scared. You exploited and abused her.
After some hours, she was able to get away from you and although traumatised, she had the courage to approach a supermarket security guard.
“You thought she was older and consented – this was self-serving nonsense.
“The consequences of this ordeal have been horrific for the complainer.
“You have had little stability in your life. You’ve been sentenced 22 times for road traffic matters, knives, assaults, dishonesty and violence and, it is worrying to see, domestic abuse. To this list must now be added rape.
“You’ve shown no remorse. This is a bleak situation but there is scope for you to turn your life around.
“A substantial custodial sentence is the only appropriate response.”
Traumatic upbringingMr Barr had earlier said: “I recognise the impact this has had on the complainer and the seriousness of this matter.”
He said Stirling lost his brother at a young age.
“It’s clear he had a traumatic upbringing. His difficulties appear rooted in his early years.
“The course of his life thereafter has been impacted through his lack of family support and he progressed into drug use at a very early age. Drug use was a feature of this offence.
“The particular history around that time involved the passing of Mr Stirling’s father in December 2023. He was in custody and was released in January 2024.
“Thereafter, he further spiralled out of control and continued using drugs.
“He has been engaging well in custody with certain forms of assistance.”