A SOCIAL worker, who was latterly employed in Clackmannanshire, has been jailed for eight years for a string of depraved sex attacks on three women.

Thomas Proctor was last month found guilty of a total off 11 charges by jurors after preying on his victims for years, including using his position to threaten to have the children of two of them removed from their care.

The offences took place at locations in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Fife. Proctor, 43, had latterly been a social worker in the Alloa area before being suspended.

A spokesperson for Clackmannanshire Council confirmed after the case he “was no longer employed” by the local authority.

Proctor raped one of his victims while she was recovering in hospital.

He also took advantage of a victim after she drank water with a mystery substance in it.

Proctor had denied the accusations during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, but jurors found him guilty of a total of 11 charges.

They included the repeated rape and indecent assault of the first woman at different locations in Lanarkshire.

Proctor was convicted of sexually assaulting a second female at a flat in Glasgow's Maryhill. He was also found guilty of raping and making threats to the second woman in Fife and Lanarkshire.

The crimes took place between January 2002 and August 2019.

Judge William Gallacher imposed an 11-year extended sentence on Proctor, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

He will be behind bars for eight years and under supervision upon his release for three years.

The judge stated that Proctor's actions were "simply disgraceful."

He added: "It is difficult to figure out the appropriate sentence due to the level of abuse carried out over a period of time. I will impose a significant penalty.

"You will have grasped that because of the gravity of this case, there is only one thing I can do."

After the sentencing, one of Proctor's victims said: "I am really pleased with the judge's reflections of the offences.

"I understand the appropriate length of the sentence, however, my fear is that it doesn't reflect the number of potential other victims."

An indefinite non-harassment order against Proctor's victims was granted.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

In his closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Alan Parfery told how Proctor was "calculated in a predatory fashion" towards his victims.

During one early attack with the first woman, he stated to her: "I am teaching you what you will like and what you do not like."

Her horrific ordeal at Proctor's hands included being raped while she was recuperating in hospital from a medical procedure.

She recalled that if he was "pestering" her for sex, he told her it was to be "expected".

Proctor attacked the woman again at a house in Lanarkshire after he came into the room and pulled down her pyjamas.

After the harrowing incident, the woman told the court: "He was very calm and nonchalant."

She was also choked during other sex attacks.

The woman said she tried to stay "calm" during this. She added: "There would be more pressure if I struggled."

The court heard how social worker Proctor further belittled her by claiming she did not have a university degree or income.

She described being left to feel "worthless".

The second victim recalled waking up to finding Proctor molesting her.

Her reaction was "what the f***" and she demanded he stop.

But, Proctor told her: "You were liking it."

The final woman got to know Proctor having met him online.

She ended up in his company one night after she returned from a night out with friends at the Edinburgh Festival.

Proctor gave her a glass of water. She said they kissed – but her next memory was waking up in some pain.

Prosecutors said he had caused the woman to "ingest an unknown substance in water" to overpower her for sexual activity.

The woman asked what happened – but he casually put to her: "Do you not remember?"

Jurors heard a similar sort of incident happened on two other occasions. He gave her water, told her to “drink up” before she later awoke and had “flashbacks” to what had happened.

The court heard Proctor also flew into a rage with the woman believing she was interested in a much older delivery driver who had come to her home.

In his closing speech, Mr Parfery spoke of his position as a social worker to make sure threats to two of the women “packed a punch”.

Referring to one of the victim, the prosecutor put to him: “You told her that you held such a job and how the system worked.

“That she should be intimate with you if she wanted to keep her child. The cruellest of cruel threats.”

Proctor denied the accusation adding that he never mentioned his work to “threaten” anyone.

Mr Parfery later told jurors that there was “only one person” who knew what to say to use “for a clear and devastating outcome”.