A MECHANIC who raped a 17-year-old girl 16 years ago has finally been brought to justice and jailed for six years.

John McDowall, 45, of Knockentiber, Kilmarnock, was also found guilty of sexually abusing two other teenage girls and indecently assaulting a woman.

The offences were committed between 1992 and 2006 in Ayrshire.

Judge Sean Murphy described McDowall's offences as “appalling” and ordered him to be monitored on licence in the community for three years after his release from prison.

During his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, McDowall claimed his victims were lying and insisted he was innocent.

The court heard he pushed his young rape victim onto a bed and removed her clothing before forcing her to have sex with him. The offence took place in June 2002 at an address in Kilmarnock.

Vile McDowall made another teenage girl watch porn films before sexually assaulting her. This took place on various occasions between 1992 and 1995 when she was aged between 13 and 15.

He also sexually abused another teenager from 2003 to 2006 when she was aged between 13 and 15.

His fourth victim was a woman. McDowall exposed himself to her and touched her breasts on an occasion between April 2000 and July 2001 in a car on an unidentified road in Ayrshire.

McDowall nodded to friends and family in the public benches as he was led away to begin his sentence.