A young sex offender who targeted two women while high on cocaine has been detained for almost two years.
A sheriff had been pondering a “bespoke supervision” for 20-year-old Richard Flanagan, who attacked two women while they were in bed and claimed to have voices in his head.
Dundee Sheriff Court previously heard one of the victims had a lock knife held to her neck by Flanagan, who was high on cocaine at the time.
The separate incidents happened months apart but both were during the early hours of the morning.
Flanagan, on remand at Polmont young offenders’ institute, was told he would be kept in detention for 20 months and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for the next decade.
Sheriff Gregor Murray also told him we would be under supervision for the first ten months after his release.
This would require living only in accommodation approved by his supervisor.
Threatened first victim with knife
During the first incident on February 15, 2019, the woman – who did not know Flanagan – and her boyfriend had been at a gathering with him.
Things took a sinister turn when Flanagan took cocaine and produced a knife from the kitchen.
He showed the woman and her boyfriend the blade and placed it against her skin, saying: “If I hated you, I could stab you.”
Flanagan also placed the knife against the neck and arm of her and her boyfriend.
The woman began to cry and briefly managed to take the knife from Flanagan, before he apologised.
All three then went to bed before Flanagan returned to attack the couple.
Prosecutor Lora Apostolova previously told the court: “The accused said, ‘Can I come in and cuddle with you? These voices in my head are doing my head in.’
“The accused climbed into the bed but they told him, no.
“The accused said he wasn’t tired and slapped and punched them on the face and head.”
The woman was sitting upright when Flanagan groped her indecently.
Told second target he had ‘demons inside’
On June 7, last year, Flanagan was at the second woman’s house for a party.
Nobody at the party knew him.
The court heard how Flanagan became embroiled in an argument with the woman’s boyfriend.
Everyone left apart from the woman and her friend.
She received a call from her boyfriend saying he would be returning and later heard the doorbell ring.
However, it was Flanagan who had come back and asked the woman and her friend if they would have sex with him, which was refused.
A fully clothed Flanagan later got into bed with the women and sexually abused one of them.
Ms Apostolova said the woman “froze” and Flanagan continued to try and kiss her, stating that he had “demons inside him.”
Victims continue to suffer
Flanagan admitted both sexual assaults and charges of threatening people on the dates of each.
At a previous court date, Sheriff Murray said: “I have to take account of your difficult upbringing that you have little or no responsibility for, your youth, your lack of support and your relative lack of offending.
“Each of the first two incidents must have terrified the respective complainers and it’s entirely possible that they continue to suffer from your actions.”
