A sex predator who raped a Saltcoats schoolgirl was jailed for four and a half years today.

Mark Pettigrew, 19, was also convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl on a cycle path between Galston and Hurlford and having underage sex with a third.

At the High Court in Glasgow judge Lord Burns told Pettigrew: “You have either pled guilty to or been found guilty of very serious sex offences against young girls.

"You raped two of these girls – one was 13 and the other was 15 – and you persisted in unlawful sex with another. There is a predatory element to these offences for one as young as you are.”

Lord Burns ordered Pettigrew to be monitored in the community for five years after his release from detention.

The court heard that Pettigrew pounced on the 13-year-old in East Ayrshire after giving her alcohol on August 9, 2019.

A cyclist with a camera on his cycle helmet riding on the track between Galston and Hurlford in Ayrshire happened to record Pettigrew on top of the motionless girl.

Pettigrew was on bail at the time having earlier raped a 15-year-old in Saltcoats and having underage sex with a 14-year-old.

During trial Pettigrew insisted the 13-year-old had pestered him to “s***” her but, prosecutor Greg Farrell told jurors the claim was “patently nonsense”.

The trial heard she was given drink before Pettigrew pulled down her clothes and took advantage of her.

Mr Farrell said footage of the incident was “unpleasant, but necessary viewing”.

The court was told how a good samaritan found the dishevelled victim and drove her home.

The upset girl was said to have “collapsed into her mother’s arms” when she arrived there.

Pettigrew raped the girl having been “undeterred” by earlier police involvement.

He was on two bail orders at the time from Kilmarnock Sheriff Court. 

He repeatedly had sex with an underage girl in Saltcoats in 2018 and 2019.

She was 14 when it first occurred. At one stage, he flouted an order to stay away from her.

Pettigrew then raped a 15-year-old girl in Saltcoats in April 2019.

He claimed during the trial she had "forced" herself on him, but that they did not have sex.

Pettigrew was placed on the sex offenders list.

Defence counsel Mark Moir said: “Mr Pettigrew had a difficult childhood and is quite immature.”

Mr Moir added that Pettigrew continues to deny the rapes.