Man who raped schoolgirl on holiday in Florida jailed

A man who has been jailed for raping a schoolgirl while on holiday in Florida has been labelled a “danger to girls and women”.

Matthew Mackie, 68, from East Dunbartonshire, was on Friday sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of a string of sexual assaults spanning a period of two decades.

A jury heard Mackie, who ran a car wash in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, raped a 12-year-old girl in a hotel room in Orlando in 2002.

The security officer committed rapes and sexual assaults on three victims between 1999 and 2019 at locations in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire.

The youngest victim was just seven years old when Mackie started abusing her, the Crown Office said.

His third victim was 17 when she met Mackie, then 44, at work. He went on to repeatedly rape and assault her.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Lady Stacey jailed Mackie and ordered his name be added to the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Fraser Gibson, the procurator fiscal for High Court sexual offences, said: “Matthew Mackie was a danger to girls and women over the course of many years.

“His offending has been brought to an end by the courage of those he targeted.”

Mr Gibson said the case shows that “allegations of sex abuse do not disappear with the passage of time”.