Man jailed over sexual assault of woman who came to fit electronic tag

A man who sexually assaulted a woman who went to his house to fit him with an electronic tag has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Patrick Nolan, 39, carried out the attack at his home in the Western Isles.

His victim worked for a security firm and had gone to Nolan’s address after the monitoring tag he had been wearing as part of a restraining order malfunctioned.

Just as the woman was about to leave Nolan – who had been drinking – got a knife from the kitchen and “told her to take her clothes off”.

When she resisted he grabbed at her clothing and during the struggle left her with a “minor laceration” to her hand.

After physically resisting him, the woman talked him down by speaking “calmly” to him, before leaving and calling the police.

Nolan pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 9.

Sentencing Nolan at the same court on Monday, judge Lady Ross told him the woman had been carrying out her duties as a field monitoring officer when he assaulted her.

“Just as she was about to leave you went to the kitchen and returned with a knife, and told her to take her clothes off, and then assaulted her,” she told him.

“Fortunately, the complainer succeeded in taking control of the situation by physically resisting and speaking very calmly”.

She told Nolan: “As a result of your actions this person experienced real distress. That is not surprising.

“It is only thanks to her professionalism, her quick thinking and her resilience that the situation was not worse.”

Lady Ross told him the woman had been carrying out an “important and often difficult duty” as part of the criminal justice system, and she “deserved to be treated with respect”.

“Your assault, especially a sexual assault, particularly against a person in the course of her employment, is a very serious matter”, she added.

She told Nolan that with more than 30 previous convictions, including theft and road traffic offences, he presented a “risk of harm” to the public, and that an extended sentence was necessary.

She sentenced him to six years and six months, including a custodial period of four years and six months.

She also ordered him to remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely, and imposed an indefinite harassment order on him.

Nolan, who was attending from prison via videolink dressed in a pale grey sweater, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

Earlier, Nolan’s lawyer, Shahid Latif, told the court his client had expressed “remorse and regret”, and that he wished to apologise to the victim.

He added: “He is aware no-one should have to go through what happened that day”.

He also said that in the crown narrative his victim had described Nolan as “absolutely pathetic” – which he said was perhaps a “proper reflection” of Nolan’s part in what took place that day.