An Aberdeen double rapist burst into tears and had to be removed from court as a jury convicted him of offences involving two women.
John Middleton began crying hysterically in the dock and called the jury “rats” after he was found unanimously guilty of one rape and guilty by majority of another.
It took a jury of 10 men and five women less than two hours to convict the 25-year-old on both charges.
Judge Olga Pasportnikov was forced to request that Middleton be removed from the High Court in Aberdeen as he continued to blame the jury and protest his innocence.
As he was taken out of the dock by police and security guards, Middleton also shouted at the jury “I’m not guilty!” and “how can you find me guilty?”
Middleton – who has a long list of previous convictions – also has two previous sexual offences on his record.
Victim was ‘intoxicated or unconscious’
The charges against Middleton stated that on August 3 2020 he raped a woman at a flat near Aberdeen’s Beach Boulevard.
It also states Middleton uttered sexual remarks to the woman before pulling down his trousers and exposing himself to her.
The jury found him guilty by majority verdict on this charge.
Another charge accused Middleton of raping a second woman on an occasion between November 20 and November 25 2022 at a property in Northfield.
It was alleged Middleton assaulted the woman while she was either “intoxicated by drugs or was unconscious” and was therefore incapable of giving consent.
Middleton is then accused of taking the woman into a bath with him where he touched her private parts.
It states Middleton then attempted to rape her and then did rape her.
The members of the jury found Middleton unanimously guilty of this offence.
He was also on bail at the time of these two offences, the court was told.
‘Rats!’
Following his conviction, Middleton burst out crying and began shouting at the jury, calling them “rats” and repeatedly protesting his innocence.
Advocate depute for the Crown, Michelle Brannagan, made the court aware of Middleton’s previous convictions, including for sexual communication and sexual exposure charges.
Middleton’s defence advocate, Gareth Jones KC, asked the judge to defer sentencing on his client in order for a criminal justice social work report to be carried out.
However, as Judge Pasportnikov went to confirm with Middleton what he had been convicted of, he refused to stand and again began to protest his innocence.
As he was removed from the court, Middleton shouted a variety of obscenities at police and again called the jury “rats”.
In his absence, Judge Pasportnikov stated to the jury that she “hoped they weren’t too alarmed by that outburst” before stating that Middleton would be sentenced at the High Court in Inverness on July 4 2024.
The judge also placed Middleton, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, on the sex offenders register.
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