A rapist River City actor and a paedophile who changed his name to become president of the Robert Burns World Federation are among the depraved criminals brought to justice in Scotland this week.
Also locked up was a calculated stalker who abducted a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint in Edinburgh, and an arsonist who torched a block of flats trapping his ex-partner and child. A carwash owner whose drug trafficking operation collapsed because of his bathroom floor tiles was also jailed.
Craig Higgs
A 'calculated' domestic abuser was jailed on Tuesday after deliberately setting fire to a block of flats, leaving his former partner and her five-year-old child trapped inside. CCTV footage showed Craig Higgs walking towards Bellfield Court in Musselburgh while looking at his mobile phone minutes before the blaze on April 20, 2022, which also left other residents unable to escape. The fire left his former partner and child trapped as thick smoke spread, placing their lives at risk.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used an enforcer and an axe to smash into the property and rescue them. Higgs was convicted of wilful fire-raising, endangering lives, and had previously admitted two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour. The 37-year-old was jailed for seven years at the High Court in Edinburgh, with an indefinite non-harassment order.
Iain Robertson
Former River City actor Iain Robertson was jailed for nine years for raping a woman and assaulting two others. The 45-year-old, who played Stevie O'Hara in the BBC soap, was convicted of five offences including domestic abuse against women between 2004 and 2019. At Edinburgh High Court on Thursday, judge Lady Drummond sentenced him to nine years in prison plus three years supervision, and placed him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Prosecutors said he subjected victims to violence, threats and aggression. He poured wine over one woman's head and raped another during coercive and controlling behaviour. The woman, who worked with him on River City, said she did not want anything sexual but believed Robertson did.
Aaron Strachan
A masked rapist who abducted a 15-year-old girl from an Edinburgh bus stop before raping her in a basement was jailed under a lifelong restriction order. Aaron Strachan, 21, pulled a knife on the girl on Princes Street in May last year, forced her to a basement storage area, and attacked her. The indefinite sentence means at least five years before parole, and he may never be released.
The victim had been waiting at a bus stop when Strachan, wearing a balaclava, approached. She walked away but he followed, then ran at her as she sat at another bus stop. Brandishing a knife, he forced her to a basement on York Place, blocked the door with pallets, and raped her. He was identified by DNA and arrested after trying to hide from police. He admitted rape and also pleaded guilty to stabbing a man in the hand hours before the rape.
Marc Sherland
A convicted paedophile who changed his name and became president of the Robert Burns World Federation was jailed for five years after more victims came forward. Marc Sherland, now 70, was found guilty in May of indecently assaulting three teenage boys between 1988 and 1990. He had previously been convicted in 1991 of abusing two boys aged eight and 10 while a youth worker. After that conviction, he changed his name and became a cultural ambassador for Burns' poetry before leaving the federation in December 2023.
Sentencing him at Paisley Sheriff Court on Thursday, Sheriff Gillian Craig imposed a five-year prison sentence plus three years supervision and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning contact with children for 20 years. One survivor said: "What happened to me is something I’ve been forced to live with, and battle with, my whole life. It has moulded everything about me from my attitude, personality and the way I’m able to interact with people and the world around me."
Klodian Ferizolli
A gangster carwash owner whose drug trafficking operation collapsed after being caught by his bathroom floor tiles was jailed for three years. Police linked the tiles to pictures sent on EncroChat by Klodian Ferizolli, of Glasgow. The 32-year-old was found guilty of supplying cocaine and cannabis worth thousands of pounds using the encrypted messaging app.
Ferizolli used EncroChat daily to set up deals. In one conversation, he discussed a property for a cannabis factory to grow 10kg of the drug. Another discussion listed debts totalling £355,350 owed to him, and he confirmed receiving £239,680. He sent a picture of white powder referred to as 'Columbiana' and offered to supply cocaine for £39,000 per kilo. His scheme unraveled when police linked the handle to him through an image that matched his bathroom floor tiles. He was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.
