This is the moment a violent rapist who abducted a teenage girl at knifepoint slipped off his handcuffs and wriggled free from prison guards before fleeing from court.

CCTV footage from outside the High Court in Edinburgh Aaron Strachan running away after his sentencing was adjourned in January this year.

Strachan was like a ‘wild animal stalking its prey’ when he abducted a 15-year-old girl before marching her to a dingy basement ‘lair’ and subjecting her to a horrifying ordeal.

Today, the predator was handed a life sentence.

Balaclava-clad Strachan went out ‘hunting for a vulnerable victim’ on May 25 last year before tracking the girl to a bus stop, where he ran towards her with a knife.

Fearing for her life, he then marched his victim to his filthy basement in the city, where he dragged his blade down a wall before raping her.

After the attack, he warned her ‘don’t tell anyone’ and threatened to harm her if she did. 

Judge Michael O’Grady KC told Strachan his actions were ‘the stuff of nightmares for every woman and every young girl, and every parent who waits at home for their child to return home safely’. 

Strachan, who has an extensive criminal record including attacking a man with a knife before the rape, had been waiting to be sentenced when he managed to escape.

Aaron Strachan was handed a life sentence for stalking, abducting and raping a teenage girl

CCTV footage showed the moment Strachan broke free as two guards walked him towards the police van

Strachan was then seen walking down another street wearing a blue hoodie

The rapist, dressed in a red top, managed to slip off his cuffs before yanking his hand free and sprinting off in the direction of the Royal Mile.

One guard tumbled down the court steps and fell to the ground as he broke free, with his colleague unable to keep up with the escapee. 

He was later seen on CCTV having switched clothes into a blue hoodie but was recaptured a few hours later after a major police search.

Strachan’s lawyer Simon Collins told the court it had been ‘a moment of impulsiveness’, saying his client had noticed the handcuffs linking him to a security guard were ‘not tight enough to prevent him from removing his hand’.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, a judge told Strachan that he may never be released from prison. 

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to the rape and two assaults on December 4, 2025, and on Monday pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice.  

Strachan first approached the 15-year-old girl as she waited at a bus stop in Edinburgh city centre in the early hours of May 25.

After feeling uneasy, she walked away towards Princes Street, and Strachan was caught on CCTV following her, with his face covered by a balaclava.

He then ran towards the girl as she sat at a second bus stop, threatening to harm her while brandishing a knife.

After seizing her by the shoulders, he forcibly led her to his basement, where he blocked the door with wooden pallets before raping her.

After attacking the teenager, Strachan forced his victim to show him her bus pass so he could learn her name and would be able to find her. 

His teenage victim told her mother about the attack and a major police search was launched.

Strachan, who did not know the victim, was identified after his DNA was found at the scene.

He was arrested while hiding behind the bushes in the Dalry area of the city.

The violent criminal also stabbed one man in an ‘unprovoked’ attack on the same day he carried out his abduction.

Three days later, he struck again and attacked another man with a hammer – leaving the victim needing 11 titanium plates inserted into his fractured skull.   

Judge O’Grady imposed an order for lifelong restriction on Strachan with a minimum period of five years in custody.

He said: ‘The word predatory is perhaps overused in these courts, but it is an inescapable adjective to describe this truly bestial crime,’ he said.

‘You left your lair and went out hunting for a vulnerable victim.

‘Finding one, you stalked her, threatened her at knifepoint and took her to a dingy basement and raped her.’

Strachan pictured walking down another Edinburgh street after fleeing custody

He said the attack on May 25 – the same day as the rape – had left his victim with two knife wounds to his right hand.

In the later attack, the judge told Strachan he had struck his victim on the head with a metal hammer, leaving him ‘semi-conscious’ on the ground and suffering seizures.

The man was later found to have suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, with the judge saying the consequences of the attack for the man had been ‘catastrophic’.

The judge also laid out Strachan’s ‘concerning’ criminal record, telling him he had appeared in court on 18 previous occasions in relation to 38 separate charges, eight of which involved possession of weapons.

The judge told Strachan he was ‘entirely satisfied’ he met the criteria for an order for lifelong restriction order – an indeterminate sentence that means an offender is not released until deemed to no longer pose a risk to the public.

The judge told him: ‘You are likely to remain in prison for many years, if indeed you are ever released.’

Strachan, who remained handcuffed to security officers throughout the hearing, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

Earlier, Mr Collins told the court his client’s actions were ‘extremely serious offences’.

‘I accept that, and Aaron Strachan accepts that,’ Mr Collins told the court.

‘The inevitable outcome of the offences of this seriousness is that he is facing an extremely lengthy period in custody.’