A masked rapist who snatched a 15-year-old girl from an Edinburgh bus stop, dragged her to a dingy basement and raped her at knifepoint has been told he may never be released from prison — after escaping from a prison van during his sentencing hearing.
Aaron Strachan, 21, a former athlete with Edinburgh Athletic Club, was jailed under an order for lifelong restriction (OLR) at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday. Judge Michael O'Grady KC imposed a minimum term of five years, but told Strachan: “You are likely to remain in prison for many years, if indeed you are ever released.”
“Aaron Strachan, 21, jailed with lifelong restriction for abducting and raping a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint in Edinburgh basement.”
The judge described Strachan’s crimes as “the stuff of nightmares for every woman and every young girl, and every parent who waits at home for their child to return home safely”. He added: “The word predatory is perhaps overused in these courts, but it is an inescapable adjective to describe this truly bestial crime.”
Strachan first approached his victim as she waited at a bus stop on Lothian Road in the early hours of 25 May last year. Feeling uneasy, she walked towards Princes Street and stopped outside Marks and Spencer. But Strachan, wearing a balaclava, followed her, CCTV showed. He demanded her phone, told her “not to scream”, produced a knife, grabbed her by the shoulders and marched her towards York Place, occasionally covering her eyes.
He forced her down steps to a basement storage area littered with wooden pallets and crates, blocked the door with pallets, and raped her on a makeshift bed strewn with rubbish. He warned her not to tell anyone or he would find and hurt her.
On the same day, hours before the rape, Strachan had stabbed a man repeatedly on the hand in an unprovoked attack in the South Bridge area, leaving two knife wounds. Three days later, on 28 May, he attacked another man with a claw hammer in High Riggs, striking him on the head and leaving him semi-conscious on the ground, suffering seizures. The victim suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, the judge said, calling the consequences “catastrophic”.
Strachan pleaded guilty to the rape and two assaults on 4 December 2025. At a hearing on 13 January this year, he was due to be sentenced but fled while being led from the Court of Session to a prison van. He slipped his hand out of handcuffs and ran off into the Royal Mile, sparking a mass manhunt. He was detained by police a short time later. On Monday, he also pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
Judge O'Grady noted Strachan’s “concerning” criminal record: 18 previous court appearances relating to 38 charges, eight of them involving possession of weapons. “You left your lair and went out hunting for a vulnerable victim,” the judge told him. “Finding one, you stalked her, threatened her at knifepoint and took her to a dingy basement and raped her.”
With the OLR order, a parole board will now decide if Strachan is ever safe to be released — a decision that may never come.
