A SEX offender who raped three sleeping victims during a five-year period was jailed yesterday (Friday) Matthew Ferguson carried out sex crimes against three teenagers at houses in Dundee and Galashiels.

The 24-year-old of Wellgrove Street, Dundee, had denied a series of charges during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, but was found guilty of an indecent assault and three rape offences committed between March 2011 and April 2016.

In all four offences the victims were said to have been asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent.

One victim, now aged 21, told the court that she first fell victim to a sex crime committed by Ferguson when she was aged 13 and staying overnight at a house in Galashiels as a guest at a party.

She later told police that Ferguson had come into the room where she was sleeping and molested her.

She said on a second occasion when she was aged 14 she had not been drinking and said: "I am a very heavy sleeper and groggy when I come to. It took me a minute or so to realise someone was lying on top of me."

She told officers that she felt discomfort and a burning sensation and found it slightly difficult to breathe because of the weight on her.

The victim said she was crying when she later told her father what Ferguson did to her. She said a woman gave her the morning after pill.

A second woman, now 21, told the court that in the spring of 2016 she was staying with her then boyfriend at a bedsit in Dundee when Ferguson visited.

She said he and her boyfriend were discussing a phone app and she fell asleep after midnight. She said Ferguson went to sleep on the floor.

She told advocate depute Richard Goddard QC that the next thing she remembered after falling asleep was "someone on top of me".

The woman told the court: "I was lying on back and I never lie on my back." She said she did not want to open her eyes and added: "I was too scared."

She said she woke up to her boyfriend shouting: "Get off her." She said Ferguson was still on top of her when she heard the words.

She said she was scared of Ferguson "in case anything else happened". She told the court: "I thought I had been raped."

Ferguson, who had been on bail, was remanded in custody following the guilty verdicts and sentence was adjourned on him until next month.

The trial judge, Lady Carmichael, called for the preparation of a background report and psychiatric report ahead of sentencing.

Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said Ferguson had been deemed fit to stand trial by a psychiatrist. Ferguson was placed on the sex offenders' register.