29-05-2025
Moray ‘monster' serial rapist could face life sentence after breaching order
A serial rapist who flouted a strict sex offence order by contacting two women and a girl from behind bars could be facing a life sentence.
Edward Moir was jailed for seven years in 2014 for attacking three vulnerable females in Elgin, Moray and Macduff.
The 34 year-old – who once claimed to be a 'new kind of monster' – was made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) in January 2023.
He had been locked up again for sending what was described as a 'disgusting' letter to a woman while in jail for the rapes.
These latest crimes then occurred while he was in HMP Edinburgh in 2024.
Moir today appeared via video-link from prison at the High Court in Glasgow having admitted, at a hearing last month, three charges of breaching the SOPO.
Lord Colbeck said a pre-sentencing report had assessed the rapist as remaining at a 'high-risk' of further sexual offending.
The judge told Moir's lawyer Simon Gilbride: 'What concerns me is the apparent unwillingness to take part in the necessary courses within prison to address difficulties.
'It almost seems controlling like: 'I am only doing what I want to do'.
'This is a worry in the context of sexual offending.'
Mr Gilbride accepted the report was 'concerning' and that he could not oppose a full risk assessment being carried out on Moir.
This could eventually lead to a strict Order for Lifelong Restriction being imposed.
The case was adjourned and a further hearing is to take place in Inverness on August 26.
Prosecutor Vish Kathuria told the court last month how police and prison authorities became aware of phone contact which breached the terms of Moir's SOPO.
Moir had been in touch with one woman dozens of times between March and June 2024.
He had also been in contact with a five-year-old girl around that time.
There had been nearly 30 calls to the number of another woman, which eventually led to her blocking him.
Moir raped three women during attacks between 2010 and 2013.
He was convicted following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
In 2021, Moir was guilty of indecently communicating with a woman who he barely knew.
In the letter, he asked her to be his 'secret lover'.
Moir also chillingly stated prison had 'turned him into a new kind of monster'.
The woman who received the letter was said to be 'absolutely disgusted' and contacted police.
