A rapist who repeatedly attacked a child told her that nobody would believe her.

Steven Nevitt, 48, pounced on the girl while he was a teenager in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, between 1991 and 1993.

Nevitt raped her in a locked bathroom and repeatedly in her bedroom while he covered her mouth.

Nevitt also raped a girl between 1989 and 1990 when she was five or six at the same property.

The girl recalled the incident as she remembered eating a digestive biscuit after it.

Nevitt was jailed for 30 months in 1997 for lewd, libidinous practices against a male and female child.

Nevitt pleaded guilty today at the High Court in Glasgow to two of his latest rape charges. The court heard Nevitt - aged 16 or 17 - attacked one of the girls - aged 10 and 11 - in a bathroom which he locked behind him.

Prosecutor Vish Kathuria said: "He pushed her on the floor so she was lying on her back and he pulled his trousers as well his pants down to his ankles.

"He covered her mouth with his hand."

Nevitt went on to rape the girl and stated: "No one will believe you" which she thought was the case.

There were further occasions Nevitt raped the girl while they were in her bedroom alone.

Nevitt would again cover her mouth when the attacks took place.

The girl stated that she looked away and "blocked it out" whenever it happened.

She added that it happened on a number of occasions that cannot separate them.

The hearing was told of an earlier incident involving the younger child. She recalled Nevitt - who was 14 or 15 - being in her bedroom while she was sleeping and he held a digestive biscuit.

Nevitt pulled down his trousers, came towards her and raped her.

The girl remembered being in pain. Mr Kathuria added: "She can't remember what he did when he stopped.

"She remembered sitting alone in the bed eating the biscuit he had brought to the room." Both girls did not report the incidents to the police during an investigation in 1996.

However, reports were made in 2022 which led to Nevitt's arrest.

Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh by Judge Lord Arthurson. Nevitt had his remand in custody continued and he was placed on the sex offenders register.