A married man who raped two young girls as they slept over at his house in Aberdeenshire has had sentencing postponed.
Former lorry driver Joseph Holmes admitted pouncing on his victims at a property in Rattray, Aberdeenshire, between January 1999 and December 2020 when they were aged 12 and 14.
The 64-year-old also pled guilty to sexually assaulting two more girls at the same time and place, including in his attic.
The offences only came to light when one of the rape victims handed her mum a note of what he had done to her and a police investigation resulted in more complainers coming forward.
Victim tried to fight off rapist
Holmes, who was remanded in custody following his earlier guilty pleas at the High Court in Glasgow, was due to have been sentenced at the High Court in Livingston on Thursday.
However, judge Lord Armstrong adjourned the case again until December 16 at the High Court in Glasgow, and told Holmes he would be sentenced for his “grave” crimes then.
In addition to pleading guilty to raping the two victims and carrying out a series of sexual assaults on one of them and the two other girls, Holmes separately admitted using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices on the other rape victim.
The court heard a 14-year-old girl stayed over frequently at Holmes’ address during the coronavirus pandemic. During that time he exposed himself to her and forced her to perform a sex act on him and he did the same to her.
Report sparked a wave of further females coming forward
Holmes tried to rape the girl and forced himself on top of her as she slept in the early hours of December 2, 2020. She struggled with him, trying to punch and kick him, however, Holmes overcame the girl and raped her.
When the girl returned home her mother noticed she was very upset. The girl left the room and returned with a note setting out what Holmes had done to her.
She told her mother that he had been doing things to her for some time and the police were contacted.
The report sparked a wave of further females coming forward to report being victims at the hands of Holmes. Each gave a similar account of being groped and sexually abused by Holmes as they pretended to sleep.
One victim, now aged 27, recalled being kissed on the lips by Holmes and being repeatedly groped over and under her clothing more than 13 years ago.
She went to the police to report the matter in June 2009 but Holmes was released as no one else had come forward at the time.
The accused went on to expose himself to an 11-year-old girl who also stayed over at his property during the pandemic before being arrested and charged for a string of sexual offences.
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