Victim slams Scottish government for potential early release of rapist Ryan Strang

A woman raped by her ex-boyfriend who also beat her with a 25kg dumbbell has slammed the UK justice system after it was revealed that he could be expected to serve only half of his eight year sentence. Serial rapist Ryan Strang was jailed for his crimes in 2013 for gruesome attacks on three women.

However, he was jailed just before new laws came into force that could have afforded him a much longer sentence. Due to his sentencing, he is still eligible for parole next year and the new laws would mean that Strang could be automatically released from jail in 2019 despite the severity of his crimes.

One of his victims, Siobhan Baxter, 23, of Ruchazie in Glasgow was Strang's victim for seven months.

She told Scottish newspaper the Daily Record that eight years was not good enough for the crimes he had committed. She said that he had made her life "hell" and that she still had flashbacks and nightmares about how she had been treated.

Beaten with a dumbbell

Baxter told the paper that if there was a possibility that he will be let out in the next 12 months that Strang, 28, of Provanmill, Glasgow, "shouldn't be allowed to get off that easy". She told the Daily Record that Strang hit her with the dumbbell and raped her in his bedroom. She said that she had passed out during the attack.

She recalled another vicious attack when Strang knocked her to the ground and punched and kicked her in the stomach. She told the paper that she bled so heavily that she feared the possibility that she had been pregnant and miscarried. Although he was cleared of that attack, Strang was found guilty of raping Siobhan, striking her with the dumbbell, biting her hand and chest and trying to strangle her.

Two other victims gave evidence against him at his High Court trial in Glasgow in 2013.
The Scottish Government said that decisions on the release of prisoners are "a matter for the parole board". The board is independent of Scottish ministers.