Richard Pollock, 32, was jailed for three years and a month in March 2013 for attempting to rob the East Princes Street shop in 2007 — after spending five years on the run.

He was released early from jail in May of this year and he was on a home detention curfew at the time of the rape in July.

During his sentencing for the attempted armed robbery, Pollock’s defence lawyer told Dumbarton Sheriff Court he was an ‘entirely different man’ who had ‘turned his life around and found employment’.

However, at the High Court sitting in Glasgow this week, Pollock’s own lawyer described the rape as an ‘appalling case’.

Tony Graham, defending, added: “There are cases where sometimes no mitigation can be offered – and this is one of them.” Pollock – who has had no ties to the anti-nuclear peace camp at Faslane since going on the run in 2008 – was jailed for eight years after he admitted the rape charge, which was described as an ‘atrocious’ attack by the judge.

The court heard Pollock forced himself on the terrified youngster at his flat near to Hamilton Racecourse in Lanarkshire on July 14.

The girl fell asleep in Pollock’s flat, but awoke to find him on top of her. She immediately lashed out at him and demanded he get off.

But Pollock then slapped his hand over his victim’s mouth and told her she would ‘enjoy it’. He also threatened that if she ‘made a sound’ he would ‘slit the throat’ of a woman the girl knew.

He then raped the schoolgirl before forcing her to stay in the flat when she tried to escape. However, the victim eventually managed to get out after punching Pollock in the face.

She fled to a nearby Bentley motor showroom and told a worker there that she had been raped. Police were alerted before Pollock was later detained for the sex attack.

The court heard Pollock had previously worked in the Highlands in agriculture. This came after he went on the run having initially appeared in court for the post office hold up just before Christmas in 2007.

At the time, the court heard Pollock threatened staff before demanding cash — saying customers were ‘at risk’ if they didn’t hand it over.

But when the workers refused he fled empty handed, only to be caught when a postman spotted him ditching the knife and balaclava on a nearby roof.

As Pollock’s court date for the attempted robbery and a likely jail term approached, he took off and began a new life in the Scottish Highlands, working as a crofter and eventually as a roofer – even helping on restoration projects at some of Scotland’s most historic buildings.

But his criminal past caught up with him when a neighbour called the police after hearing an argument between Pollock and his girlfriend.

Officers uncovered his true identity after running a background check, and he was finally arrested in Edinburgh in November 2012.

Sentencing Pollock for the rape, Lord Boyd said the jail-term would have been 12 years, but for the guilty plea.

The judge said the attack was of an ‘atrocious nature’, adding: “It is difficult to find words for the revulsion most right-minded people would think.”