A HELENSBURGH rapist who carried out a campaign of terror against six women has been jailed for six years.

Offshore worker Ben Slee raped one of his victims and attempted to rape another.

A jury found Slee guilty of 29 charges after a trial last September – but a court hearing this week was told that he continues to deny any wrong-doing.

And the 31-year-old was warned by a judge that there was no guarantee he would be released when he’s served his sentence.

Slee, formerly of the town’s Maitland Court, was made the subject of a lifelong restriction order when he appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Dunfermline on today.

Four of his victims were beaten viciously and sexually assaulted, and another was slapped and kicked in a house in Helensburgh.

The abuse started in 2002 and carried on for 13 years at various locations in Helensburgh, Garelochhead, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Speaking to the court before the sentencing, clinical psychologist Dr John Marshall said Slee was in “extreme denial” about his behaviour.

He added: “There is an extraordinary level of denial even about minor matters.”

Dr Marshall said Slee had a psychopathic personality and posed a high risk of committing further sexual violence in the future.

Judge Lord Beckett said: “It’s clear from the victim impact statements that the offending has had very profound effects on them.”

He added that there had be “no insight, no remorse” shown by Slee.

One victim, aged 29, who Slee tried to rape, told his trial at the High Court in Glasgow that he had threatened to pour acid in her face or petrol bomb her parents’ home and car if she went to the police.

A second victim, aged 32, told the trial that Slee had pulled her head under the water while she was having a bath, and that on other occasions she would wake up to find him having sex with her.

Another woman, a 29-year-old mum of two, told the trial Slee would become aggressive if he saw her even looking towards another man.

She said Slee had attacked her at a house in Helensburgh in 2004, causing her excruciating pain, and told the court that “the look in his eyes was pure evil”.

A fourth victim, aged 27, told Slee’s trial that he had subjected her to “constant mental abuse”, calling her “ugly and fat” and saying that she would “never be anything without him”.

After he was convicted, the court ordered a detailed assessment of the risk Slee posed to women in the future.

But Slee objected to some of the factual detail of that assessment, and on his last appearance in the dock, in March, judge Lord Beckett agreed to a request from Slee’s defence team for a second assessment to be prepared.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Lord Beckett told Slee there was no guarantee that he would be released after six years.

The sentence was backdated to September 2, when he was taken into custody.

Slee was also put on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.

Offenders placed on lifelong restriction orders are subject to conditions imposed through a risk management plan when released.

A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid told the Advertiser: “It is reassuring to recognise that women’s safety has been taken seriously in the Scottish courts.

“The efforts of Police Scotland in this case are to be commended.

“Hopefully this will go a long way to encourage other women to have the confidence to report domestic abuse, safe in the knowledge that their safety matters.”

Any woman, child or young person affected by domestic abuse can access free, confidential support by contacting Argyll Women’s Aid on (01436) 677434.