A DJ who confessed to rape on a YouTube video before claiming to have ‘found God’ has been jailed.
Craig Strachan was accused of climbing into his victim’s bed and raping her at a basement flat in Edinburgh in 2013, when he was 21.
The now 33-year-old, who used the stage name ‘Craig Saint’, was today convicted by a jury at the High Court in Livingston and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Despite pleading not guilty to the crime in July, Strachan previously admitted he ‘totally f***** up and raped a girl’ when he was on drugs in a resurfaced Youtube video posted in 2022.
He went on to tell the ‘I’mpossible Conversation’ YouTube channel during an interview: ‘When I had my spiritual awakening last year it was so so scary because I was reminded of something that happened when I was 21, when I was really high and totally f****d up, I raped a girl.
‘I had sex with her when she was sleeping. It lasted about 10 seconds. She was in my bed and as soon as it happened, I instantly knew, “s***, I should not have done that”.’
Craig Strachan went online to confess his crime after ‘finding God’
Strachan was found guilty of rape at the High Court in Livingston and jailed for six years
The trial heard Strachan was 21 when he climbed into his victim’s bed uninvited and touched her while she slept, prosecutors said. When she woke, Strachan raped her.
He claimed he thought she had in fact been awake and consenting. Jurors took less than an hour to find him guilty.
He was convicted of entering a bed uninvited with the woman, touching her on the body, and raping her both while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent and after she awoke.
The verdict was unanimous.
Imposing the six-year sentence at the High Court in Stirling, Judge Fiona Tait told Strachan, who appeared by video link from Saughton Prison, Edinburgh, that the offence was one of ‘considerable gravity’, resulting in a substantial impact on his victim.
She added: ‘She should be commended for her courage in giving evidence – especially in the difficult circumstances of the publicity which your online disclosure attracted.’
Strachan was placed on the sex offenders register for life and made subject to a non-harassment order banning him from approaching or contacting his victim for 20 years.
The judge said that the non-harassment order was necessary despite the fact that the offence dated back to 2013, because Strachan had made contact with his victim more recently ‘in circumstances which prompted the present proceedings’.
He expressed no emotion as sentence was passed.
During his three-day trial, jurors were shown a series of Facebook messages, including one that the woman had sent him immediately after the incident in which she bluntly stated: ‘You f*****g raped me.’ In Strachan’s police interview he told a detective asked him: ‘I shouldn’t have done it. Either way, she was sleeping and it was wrong.’
Defence advocate Alistair Sloan said Strachan ‘is aware this is clearly a serious offence’.
During the incriminatory YouTube conversation, Strachan smiled and giggled, saying that he had forgiven himself after ‘finding God’.
He said: ‘I did admit to this and I also got in contact with the girl and her family to apologise for the situation.
‘That’s why I created The Forgiveness Movement – to help people who are afraid to speak up about their wrongs and give them help with how to seek forgiveness and forgive themselves.’
He added: ‘I don’t believe that someone should have to spend a lifetime carrying their mistake if they have done everything in their power to fix the situation.
‘I felt so guilty. I kept feeling these feelings of guilt and shame for months afterwards. I really hope the girl forgives me one day. I was comparing myself to all these bad people when in actual fact I made a horrific mistake.’
Strachan was described on the YouTube site as ‘an international DJ, producer and event promoter from Glasgow with a love for bringing joy into the lives of the people he meets – whether on the dance floor or in person’.
Craig Strachan also goes by the name ‘Craig Saint’
Living in Barcelona and more recently in London, he claimed to have performed gigs in Switzerland, Italy, Ibiza and around Scotland as well as staging sell-out events in his home club, The Mash House in Edinburgh.
Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offending, Katrina Parkes said: ‘Craig Strachan is a predatory individual who attacked the victim while she was sleeping.
‘This type of offending has no place in Scotland and prosecutors are committed to pursuing justice for victims of such crimes.
‘I would encourage all victims or witnesses of similar offending to come forward, report their experiences and seek support.
‘You will be taken seriously, listened to, and we will use all the tools available to us to pursue justice.’