Predator guilty of sickening attacks on pensioners

Jul 22 2011 by Court Reporter, Stirling Observer Friday

A TWISTED predator has been found guilty of brutally assaulting and robbing an 87-year-old woman at her home in Callander.

Convicted rapist Alexander Gable (55) carried out the terrifying attack on the pensioner in the town last July, tying her up and making off with her bank cards.

He then went on to steal £600 from her by using the cards at a bank ATM in the town’s Main Street, less than an hour later.

Gable was found guilty of the Callander attack and three others on elderly women following a trial which concluded at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday.

Gable pounced on all of his victims – aged between 74 and 94 – after breaking into their homes during the night.

He tied up, robbed and even indecently assaulted three of the terrified OAPs, who lived in Kilmaurs, Kilmarnock and Alness.

The 55-year-old was caught after his car's satellite navigation device was checked and found him to be in the areas where the horror crimes took place.

Gable claimed he had been looking at the time for premises to set up a cafe with his Polish girlfriend, but he was ultimately convicted of the sickening attacks.

It later emerged that career criminal Gable had a lengthy record of convictions – including a 10 year jail-term for raping a widow in her home in the Borders back in 1989.

He was also locked up in the Republic of Ireland in 2009 for a spate of break-ins. In one, he even stole takings from a priest's house.

Gable now faces being hit with an Order for Lifelong Restriction when he is sentenced later this year.

Judge Michael O’Grady QC told Gable he had been convicted of the “most appalling crime”.

He said the attacks were “callous and heartless” and that Gable had not shown a “hint of remorse”.

The judge went on: “You deliberately and in a sinister fashion targeted four of the most vulnerable members of our community in their own home.

“They were then made to suffer a further ordeal of being required to give evidence in the court.

“You are to all appearances entirely heartless. It appears not even a previous sentence of 10 years has had any effect.

“It is absolutely clear to me the public are only safe from you when you are behind bars, nothing else suffices.”

The trial heard how the copycat attacks took place across Scotland between May 2009 and July last year.

Gable's first victim was an 82 year-old after he got into her home in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire.

He woke her up, tied together her wrists and ankles and demanded the PIN number for her bank card.

Sick Gable molested his terrified victim and then left her helpless before stealing £300 from her account.

On July 7 last year he carried out a similar assault on a 74-year-old pensioner at her home in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

This included forcing a blanket into her mouth and hiding telephones to stop her getting help. Gable again used a bank card to steal £300.

He then targeted the 87-year-old woman 11 days later in Callander.

His final victim was the 94-year-old OAP in Alness in the Highlands whom he threatened with a metal bar.

Gable was arrested for the attacks as he came off a ferry from Ireland in September last year.

Specialist software was used to download information from the Sat-Nav device in his car.

It located him at or close to the crime scenes. He was found to have been just 20 seconds away from one of the auto-tellers he used to steal cash.

His DNA was also discovered on a handbag from the raid at the house in Kilmaurs.

Gable denied during the trial that he had been involved in any of the attacks despite the overwhelming evidence.

He told the jury he had been travelling across Scotland looking for premises to open a cafe or a florist shop with his Polish lover.

Gable also claimed he had stopped off in Kilmarnock – where he was brought up – to go to a chip shop that he liked.

Prosecutor Paul Kearney told Gable he was “making up lies on the spot” and branded his claims “ridiculous”

Mr Kearney said: “So, you are trying to tell us that this is a succession of bad luck?”

Gable replied: “I am not saying what it is. I cannot make that judgement.”

Quizzed about the fact his DNA was discovered, Gable told the jury: “It could have only got on there accidentally.”

Gable is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 14.