A serial sex offender who assaulted and raped women during more than a decade of abuse was jailed for 12 years today.
Callum Gordon was aged 18 when he first threatened and attacked a victim and went on to perpetrate similar crimes against two other women during a spate of offending that continued until 2022.
Gordon, now aged 33, subjected two victims to rape ordeals and committed a demeaning sexual assault on a third woman after breaking into a flat in Aberdeen.
A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You were convicted by the jury of an appalling course of sustained criminal conduct.”
Lord Braid said: “Your victims were all, in their own way, vulnerable.”
He said victim impact statements provided by two of the women described the lasting effect Gordon’s behaviour has had on them.
The judge said: “The gravity of the offending is such that only a significant custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Victim’s relief at sentence
He ordered that Gordon should be under supervision for a further four-year period when he will be on licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches its conditions.
Lord Braid made non-harassment orders prohibiting Gordon from contacting or attempting to contact his victims.
Speaking after today’s hearing, one of Gordon’s victims – who’s now a 29-year-old mum of one from Aberdeen but was aged 16 or 17 when their on-off relationship began – said she was “relieved” at the sentence.
“I am relieved to know that he’s finally getting punished for what he did to me and the other women,” she said.
“No sentence will ever undo or take away our suffering. My anxiety and nightmares will never go away.
“But other women will be safer while he’s locked up because he can’t harm them from prison.”
Throttled woman and threw her into wall
Gordon, a prisoner at Grampian jail, began his abuse of women in 2009 when he attacked a victim at addresses in the Tillydrone area of Aberdeen.
During it, he held the woman down and shouted and swore at her. He pushed her about, dragged her by her hair, throttled her and threw her onto a table and against a wall during assaults.
Gordon went on to commit rapes of the woman between February and August the following year.
Gordon also repeatedly made unwanted and offensive phone calls to the victim in August and September in 2010.
He went on to commit repeated assaults on a second woman between July 2010 and December 2016 at addresses in Aberdeen and at Peterhead and Huntly, in Aberdeenshire.
He grabbed and shook the woman, slapped and hit her and pushed her onto a sofa. He also struck her with a hairbrush and a metal object and stood on her foot. He also repeatedly raped the woman who was in fear further violence.
During prolonged abuse of the woman Gordon became aggressive and controlling. He threw some of her belongings out of a window, damaged her mobile phone, sent repeated text messages to her and called her and locked her out of a flat in Aberdeen. He also kicked and hit a dog in her presence.
In July 2017 Gordon broke into another flat in Aberdeen while it was unoccupied and waited on a woman returning to the property.
Broke into flat and sexually assaulted woman
When she arrived he instructed her to lie on a bed and pulled down her lower clothing and carried out a sexual assault on her.
He assaulted the woman again in May the following year when he shouted and swore at her, repeatedly punched and kicked her and her on the head with a remote control.
During abuse of the woman he threatened her dog and punched and kicked the pet in front of her. He also repeatedly questioned where she was and pestered her with phone calls.
Gordon had denied a series of charges during an earlier trial but was convicted of rapes, assaults and abusive conduct.
Defence counsel Gary Allan KC said that Gordon continued to maintain the position that he adopted at trial.
He said: “He has confirmed to me in consultation that whatever his view of the convictions, he does have room for vast improvement in his lifestyle choices.”
Gordon was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indeterminate period.
‘No sentence will ever undo or take away our suffering’
Gordon’s victim – who suffered at Gordon’s hands between July 2010 and December 2016 at addresses in the Granite City, Peterhead and Huntly – said: “I am relieved to know that he’s finally getting punished for what he did to me and the other women.
“No sentence will ever undo or take away our suffering. My anxiety and nightmares will never go away.
“But other women will be safer while he’s locked up because he can’t harm them from prison.
“After everything he’s already done and even if he takes time to reflect on it while he’s behind bars, I don’t think he’ll change and come out a better person.
“I would worry if my daughter were to meet someone like him and become partners.
“So other mums could feel reassured their daughters won’t meet Callum Gordon as long as he stays in prison.
“I am glad that his name and picture have been printed in The Press and Journal to warn other people because, when he does get out, they will already know what he’s really like.
“They’ll say, ‘I’m not speaking to that guy. I saw him in the P&J years ago.’
“I hope me speaking out about my experience might inspire other victims of similar crimes to seek the justice that they also deserve.”