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A rapist who attacked three women over a nine-year period in Aberdeenshire has been jailed for 10 years.

Keith Donald, 42, of Kemnay, raped two of the women and attempted to rape a third.

He was found guilty of eight offences, including four rapes and sexual assault, at an earlier trial and was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Judge Simon Collins QC ordered he should be kept under supervision for a further four-year period.

The judge said evidence accepted by a jury suggested a pattern of abuse and violence committed by him over a period of years.

He said Donald, who denied a series of charges, had shown no remorse or empathy for the victims and instead blamed them.

As well as the rapes, Donald was found guilty of attacking two of his victims to the danger of their lives.

He raped his first victim in 2004 in Inverurie, and then again in 2006.

He also carried out a life-endangering assault on the woman in May that year. He pushed her to the ground and grabbed her by the neck and restricted her breathing as he throttled her and repeatedly punched her on the head.

In 2010, he attacked a second woman at a house in Kemnay and tried to rape her.

His third victim was attacked in Kemnay in 2013 when she was subjected to a sexual assault and rape.

During the rape attack, Donald restrained her arms and again gripped her by the neck and restricted her breathing as he assaulted her to the danger of her life.