Edinburgh Instagram blackmailer jailed after repeatedly having underage sex with girl and multiple rape ordeals

A teenage rapist was today jailed for five years after preying on young victims in an orgy of abuse and exploitation.

Dillan Mannarn had repeated underage sex with a girl and subjected two others to rape ordeals.

Mannarn (19) befriended teenagers through social media but blackmailed them into sending explicit pictures and videos during three years of offending,

A judge told the youth at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You preyed on vulnerable individuals. You used violence, intimidation and extortion."

Lord Woolman said his offending has had a major effect on the lives of victims - one said she thought she was worthless and cried herself to sleep almost every night, another had contemplated suicide.

A background report prepared on Mannarn suggested that he posed a high risk of causing harm to others.

Mannarn, from Granton, in Edinburgh, was earlier convicted of a total of 15 crimes, including rape, underage sex, assault and extortion involving a total of eight victims.

The offences were committed between November 2016 and June last year. He was aged 16 to 18 at the time when he carried out the crimes in the Edinburgh area.

Mannarn was acquitted of a further seven charges, including four allegations of rape.

Lord Woolman said that in sentencing the sex offender he had to reflect the seriousness of the crimes, but also had to take into account his immaturity.

The judge ordered that he should be under supervision for a further three years and told Mannarn he would be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Defence counsel Shelagh McCall QC submitted that the judge should take into consideration Mannarn's youth and the impact of earlier trauma on him.

Mannarn began having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2016 but also showed his violent side as he repeatedly punched and slapped her.

He then solicited sexual images from a 14-year-old girl and threatened to publish pictures on Instagram to get her to send more.

He attacked another victim who was held down, slapped and spat on and choked and raped.

Mannarn told police that one victim had encouraged him to choke her harder, but she lost consciousness. He went to the bathroom to "finish himself off".

Miss McCall said Mannarn recognised there was a need for work to be done to address his difficulties and behaviour. She added: "He, himself, identifies a need for intervention."

She said that for the majority of the period of the offending Mannarn was a child and that during his childhood he suffered adverse experiences, including violence.

The defence counsel: "In my submission the court ought to be considering a significantly shorter sentence than would be appropriate for an adult convicted of these offence or for someone without the degree of trauma suffered by him."

Mannarn, who was detained at Polmont young offenders' institution, followed the sentencing proceedings by video link.