Moment rapist escapes guards and flees after abducting teenage girl

This is the moment a violent rapist who abducted a teenage girl at knifepoint slipped his handcuffs off and wriggled free from prison guards before fleeing from court.

CCTV footage shows Aaron Strachan escaping from outside the High Court in Edinburgh after his sentencing hearing was adjourned in January.

The rapist, dressed in a red jacket, managed to slip off his cuffs before yanking his hand free and sprinting off in the direction of the famous Royal Mile.

One guard tumbled down the court steps and fell to the ground as Strachan broke free, with his colleague unable to keep up with the escapee. 

He was recaptured a few hours later after a major police manhunt.

Strachan’s lawyer Simon Collins told the court it had been ‘a moment of impulsiveness’, saying his client had noticed the handcuffs linking him to a security guard were ‘not тιԍнт enough to prevent him from removing his hand’.

Strachan was said to be like a ‘wild animal stalking its prey’ when he abducted a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint, before marching her to a dingy basement ‘lair’ and subjecting her to a horrifying ordeal.

Today, the predator was handed a lifelong sentence with a minimum of five years in prison, which means he cannot be released until deemed to no longer pose a risk to the public.

Aaron Strachan was today sentenced to a minimum prison term of five years, under a lifelong restriction order, but was told by a judge that he may never be released

CCTV footage shows the moment Strachan broke free as two guards escorted him from court  to a police van

The rapist, dressed in a red jacket, managed to slip off his cuffs before yanking his hand free and sprinting off in the direction of the famous Royal Mile

Balaclava-clad Strachan went out ‘hunting for a vulnerable victim’ on May 25 last year, before approaching the teen at a bus stop, where he ran towards her with a knife.

Fearing for her life, he then marched his victim to his filthy basement in the city, where he threatened her by dragging his blade down a wall and then raped her.

After the attack, he warned her ‘don’t tell anyone’, and threatened to harm her if she did.  

Judge Michael O’Grady KC told Strachan his actions were ‘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’. 

Strachan, who has an extensive criminal record, including attacking a man with a knife before the rape, had been waiting to be sentenced for the Sєxual ᴀssault when he managed to escape.

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to the rape and two ᴀssaults on December 4, 2025, and today, in respect of his escape, he pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice. 

At the High Court in Edinburgh today, a judge told Strachan that he may never be released from prison, or he would remain under supervision for the rest of his life. 

Strachan first approached the 15-year-old girl as she waited at a bus stop in Edinburgh city centre in the early hours of May 25, 2025.

After feeling uneasy at his presence, she walked away towards Princes Street, and Strachan was caught on CCTV following her, his face covered by a balaclava.

As she sat at a second bus stop, he ran towards her brandishing a knife, threatening to harm her and telling her not to scream.

After seizing the teen by the shoulders, he forcibly led her to a basement, where he blocked the door with wooden pallets and then raped her.

After the attack, Strachan forced his victim to show him her bus pᴀss, so he would know her name and be able to find her and hurt her if she ever told anyone. 

Fortunately, the victim did tell her mother and the police launched a major search to find her attacker.

Strachan, who did not know the victim, was identified after his DNA was found at the scene.

He was arrested days later while hiding in bushes in the Dalry area of the city.

On the same day that Strachan raped the teenage girl, he also stabbed a man in an ‘unprovoked’ attack.

Three days later, he struck again and attacked another man with a hammer – leaving the victim with a fractured skull that needed 11 тιтanium plates to repair the injuries.   

Before the attack, Strachan was seen walking down an Edinburgh street wearing a blue hoodie

Strachan had a ‘concerning’ criminal record, having appeared in court on 18 previous occasions in relation to 38 separate charges. CCTV shows Strachan moments before the attack

At Edinburgh’s High Court today, Judge Michael O’Grady imposed an order for lifelong restriction on Strachan with a minimum period of five years in custody – for the abduction and rape, as well the violent ᴀssaults on his two male victims.

He said: ‘The word predatory is perhaps overused in these courts, but it is an inescapable adjective to describe this truly bestial crime,’ he said.

‘You left your lair and went out hunting for a vulnerable victim.

‘Finding one, you stalked her, threatened her at knifepoint and took her to a dingy basement and raped her.’

The judge also said that the knife attack on the first male victim on May 25 had left him with two wounds to his right hand.

In the later attack, the judge told Strachan he had struck his victim on the head with a metal hammer, leaving him ‘semi-conscious’ on the ground and suffering seizures.

The man was later found to have suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, with the judge saying the consequences of the attack for the man had been ‘catastrophic’.

The judge also laid out Strachan’s ‘concerning’ criminal record, telling him he had appeared in court on 18 previous occasions in relation to 38 separate charges, eight of which involved possession of weapons.

The judge told Strachan he was ‘entirely satisfied’ he met the criteria for an order for lifelong restriction order, which means a parole board must decide if he is ever safe to be released.

The judge told him: ‘You are likely to remain in prison for many years, if indeed you are ever released.’

Strachan, who remained handcuffed to security officers throughout the hearing, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

Earlier, Mr Collins told the court his client’s actions were ‘extremely serious offences’.

‘I accept that, and Aaron Strachan accepts that,’ Mr Collins told the court.

‘The inevitable outcome of the offences of this seriousness is that he is facing an extremely lengthy period in custody.’