A serial abuser who raped one woman more than 1,000 times and tortured another with his 9ft-long boa constrictor has been jailed for 14 years.
John Dickson, of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, was jailed for a reign of abuse against four women that stretched over 17 years.
The 38-year-old, tormented one of the women with his pet snake called Mitch.
This victim recalled feeling ‘uncomfortable’ around it, before Dickson used the pet to assault her.
The traumatised woman said: ‘He chucked it on me a couple of times; I was terrified.’
The sex attacks were so regular, sometimes when she was asleep, they ended up feeling ‘normal’, the victim said.
This included Dickson raping her on a train to Edinburgh. He forced her over the sink in the toilet, locked the door and had sex with her.
He carried out a similar attack at the home of his sister. Dickson then pounced on her close to the River Clyde in Muirhouse, Lanarkshire.
Jurors heard she was often battered, spat on and branded names such as ‘sl*t’.
The woman recalled one attack when she was ‘punched from head to toe for over an hour’.
Two other partners were further victims of Dickson’s ferocious temper.
One was so scared of him she was found cowering in a storage cupboard close to his flat.
Mr McPhie said: ‘She told a policeman that he had assaulted her. She told him she had a knife in her hands because she was scared of Dickson.’
Dickson, who maintains his innocence, was found guilty of five charges including rape and domestic abuse.
The crimes took place mainly in Motherwell, Lanarkshire between 2000 and 2017.
Daily Mail