SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lady Poole said:

“WILLIAM EDGAR, you pled guilty to three charges of sexual assault in the Sheriff Court.  Your case was remitted to the High Court for sentence.  

You were in prison serving a sentence for rape, imposed in 2019 in the High Court.  While in prison, on various occasions over a four month period, you sexually assaulted three other men. They were prisoners, and their ability to get away from you was restricted, putting them in a vulnerable position.

All three of your victims have provided victim impact statements.  Your victims felt intimidated by you.  They all describe the adverse effects on them of what you did.   

You have an appalling record of previous convictions.  It includes previous sexual offending, violent offending and breaches of many court orders.  You have no educational qualifications or history of formal employment, although you have worked in a prison setting.   

I have taken into account all that has been said in mitigation on your behalf.  I have had regard to your health issues, your troubled upbringing, and that you report having been a victim of sexual abuse as a child. 

I have also considered the criminal justice social work report (CJSWR) obtained prior to the remit of your case to the High Court, the risk assessment report which the court ordered, and the further risk assessment report obtained on your behalf. 

The CJSWR applied various risk assessment tools, and you were found to be a very high or high risk of sexual and violent re-offending, a high risk of sexual recidivism, and having a very high risk/level need.  Both risk assessment reports carried out more thorough risk assessments, and both assessed you as a high risk.

Given the nature and circumstances of the sexual crimes you committed, and your previous offending, I am satisfied that unless an order for lifelong restriction is imposed, when at liberty in the future you would seriously endanger the lives, or physical or psychological wellbeing, of members of the public at large.  On the balance of probabilities the risk criteria are met.  In so finding I have had regard to the reports before me, but I have not taken into account allegations of criminal behaviour in those reports of which you have not been convicted.  I sentence you to an order for lifelong restriction.  The order for lifelong restriction I impose is made in cumulo in respect of the three charges before me. 

The order I have made for lifelong restriction means you will be subject to a sentence of imprisonment for an indeterminate period.  You will only ever be released from prison into the community if the Parole Board can be satisfied that public safety will not be endangered. Even then you will be subject to conditions, and liable to be recalled to prison if you break them. For the rest of your life, you will be subject to continuing risk management and close supervision.

I am required by law to fix the punishment part of the order for lifelong restriction.  This is the minimum period which you must serve in prison before the Parole Board can, in the future, even consider your case.  The minimum period I set is 18 months' imprisonment.   I will explain how I have calculated this minimum period.  If I had been imposing a determinate sentence after trial, I would have imposed a cumulo sentence on the three charges, namely an extended sentence of 7 years with a custodial part of 4 years 6 months and an extension part of 2 years 6 months.  The custodial part would have been made up of sentences of imprisonment of 2 years, 18 months and 12 months on the three charges, all served consecutively.  The element of public protection is represented by the extension period.  I then reduce the total custodial period, to take into account the possibility of early release, to 2 years and 3 months. I then give you credit for your guilty plea by a reduction of the custodial part by 1/3 to 18 months.  The resulting punishment part is 1 year and 6 months.  I should explain that this is no more than a minimum period.  It should not be thought by you or anyone that it in any sense reflects my view of when you should be released.  I stress that this period is the bare minimum which I am obliged by statute to calculate. You are likely to remain in prison for a considerable time, and it is a matter for the Parole Board whether and when you may be released after this minimum period. 

You completed the custodial parts of the sentences to which you were subject at the time of your offending on 21 May 2024.  This sentence will therefore be served consecutively to those sentences, with the effect that the punishment part of the order for lifelong restriction to which you are subject commenced on 21 May 2024. 

You were already placed on the sex offenders register by the sheriff when you appeared before him in August 2023.  Given that I have imposed an order for lifelong restriction, you are subject to the notification requirements for an indefinite period from 21 May 2024.    Your name has been intimated to the Scottish Ministers for them to consider adding you to the lists of persons deemed unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups."