A PREDATOR who carried out sex attacks on two women he met online has been jailed for seven years.

Richard Masterton, 46, was today sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

The first victim was preyed upon at her home in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in late 2016.

He then struck against the other woman in August 2019 at her house in Pollokshields, Glasgow.

Masterton, of Cambuslang, had denied the crimes at an earlier trial.

But, he was found guilty of raping the first woman as well as a separate charge of assaulting her with intent to rape.

He was further convicted of sexually assaulting and raping the other victim.

Judge Douglas Brown told Masterton that he had attacked the women having contacted both online.

He said Masterton had been living with the first for a number of months.

Referring to the second woman, Judge Brown went on: "You met up with her and spent the evening in a number of pubs in Glasgow.

"You had apparently missed the last train and she said that you could stay on her sofa.

"You took advantage of the opportunity to sexually assault and then rape her."

Masterton was put on the sex offenders list indefinitely.

Jim Wallace, defending, told the hearing that Masterton continued to protest his innocence.