A serial sex offender who carried out his first attack when he was 12 years old has been jailed for 17 years.

Ryan Colquhoun's offences were committed in Wick, Thurso and villages in the Highlands between 2006 and 2020.

The 31-year-old, formerly of Castletown in Caithness, admitted 10 offences - including rape, sexual assault and indecent behaviour - before the case went to trial.

Sentencing Colquhoun at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Young said all the victims were vulnerable and had been left with psychologically scars.

Colquhoun abused his first victim, a girl who was younger than him, on an occasion between December 2006 and December 2008 before carrying out other attacks on the child.

He later raped a second girl before sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 2012.

Colquhoun raped a fourth female victim on two occasions and indecently assaulted a young boy.

The court heard that he was assessed as posing an above average and high risk of further offending.

Lord Young said he had read impact statements which made it clear the victims were left with psychological scarring.

The court heard the author of a background report said Colquhoun was remorseful and the judge urged him to engage with all opportunities for rehabilitation offered to him.

Lord Young also said the report suggested he was exposed to sexual images at an extremely young age.

The judge ordered that Colquhoun should be supervised and monitored in the community for a further five-year period after his release.

Colquhoun was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

Lord Young also made non-harassment orders prohibiting him from contacting or attempting to contact victims.

Defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC said it could be seen from the reports that Colquhoun was "not a happy young man" from his earliest years and was exposed to "sexualised matters" at a young age.