Cowdenbeath Paedophile Kyle Beveridge, another merciless paedophile former soldier who raped and assaulted three women over a harrowing eight-year period, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
A jury was informed that Kyle Beveridge, 28, threatened a woman with the dissemination of her intimate photographs unless she acquiesced to his demands for sexual relations.
The High Court in Edinburgh also heard that Kyle Beveridge established a fraudulent account for one of the women on Tinder’s dating application.
The woman informed investigators that she had no involvement with the profile created by Beveridge to solicit another woman for sexual purposes.
Kyle Beveridge began exploiting his youngest victim when she was 14 years old.
Kyle Beveridge preyed on the teenager at locations in Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly and raped her when she was asleep and unable to provide her consent.
Kyle Beveridge then targeted another two women and raped them at locations in his home town.
Jurors heard how police learned about Kyle Beveridge’s activities, and detectives gathered enough evidence to bring him to court.
Kyle Beveridge, who spent his trial denying any wrongdoing, was found guilty last month on seven charges of rape and indulging in threatening and abusive behaviour.
Judge Lord Armstrong heard how he was a first offender, having not been caught before. Jurors had earlier heard how he joined the Royal Regiment of Scotland after leaving school – but he was forced to leave the army after sustaining an injury.
On Wednesday, Kyle Beveridge – remanded following trial – reappeared before Lord Armstrong for sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh.
He observed proceedings via video link as Lord Armstrong imposed a 16-year disposal on him – the authorities will also supervise Kyle Beveridge for four years following his release from custody.
Passing sentence, Lord Armstrong said: “These crimes to which you have been convicted are disturbing and grave.
“You continue to deny responsibility for your criminal activities.
“Society will not tolerate such crimes, and the court will not flinch from ensuring that those convicted of such crimes be held accountable.
“There is no other appropriate sentence in this case than to impose a custodial disposal.
“I will impose an extended sentence in this case to provide adequate protection to the public.”
During proceedings, the jury heard Kyle Beveridge deny that he was responsible for harming the women.
Defence solicitor advocate Jim Wallace asked him: “Did you rape them?”
He replied: “No.”
When Mr Wallace asked him whether he was immature at the time of the crimes, Kyle Beveridge replied: “I accept that.”
Jurors were shown a text message that Kyle Beveridge had sent one of his victims, which was later recovered by detectives tasked with investigating him.
He told the girl that he’d disclose intimate images of her if she didn’t engage in sexual activity with him.
The text read: “Don’t believe me, hahaha. Really won’t be losing sleep over it other than to stay up and hear these jokes from the lads – tooo funny.”
The jurors also saw that the message contained crying faces and laughing emojis.
The court heard how he made negative remarks about the girl’s body.
Jurors heard evidence about how Kyle Beveridge set up a Tinder account for one of the women, which sought other females to “satisfy” him.
The court heard that in later years, one of his victims contacted Kyle Beveridge in a text and said: “I can remember waking up to you having sex with me.”
In his closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Chris Jones said enough evidence was available to allow them to convict Beveridge of the crimes.
He said: “The Crown’s position is that ample and compelling evidence is available to you to do that.”
He described Kyle Beveridge’s behaviour towards the women as being “chronic and coercive.”
He added: “It was to meet his demands for intimate pictures or sexual activity with third parties.”
Mr Jones also added that Kyle Beveridge’s actions were criminal.
He added: “One of the worst things I suggest is that he threatened to disclose intimate pictures to others.
“I invite you to see this as an act of gratuitous cruelty to a young girl.”
On Wednesday, Kyle Beveridge had a new solicitor advocate representing him – Gordon Martin, paedophile defence expert.
Mr Martin told the court that his client was a young man at the time of the offences. He said there was no evidence to show that that he had continued to abuse women.
He added: “This underlines the fact that he has matured.”
Mr Martin also told the court that Beveridge would spend his time learning about his behaviour while in custody.
He added: “It is his position that he will accept any help that is offered to him so that he can return to the community sooner rather than later.”
Lord Armstrong also passed lifelong non-harassment orders on Kyle Beveridge about his victims.
He added: “You are prevented from contacting them physically or electronically.”
Kyle Beveridge was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.