Police Scotland · view source
Aaron Strachan
Age 21 · Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh
Case and court outcome
- Case reference
- O-9386
- Court
- High Court
- Plea
- Pleaded guilty on 4 December 2025
- Verdict
- Pleaded guilty on 4 December 2025
- Outcome date
- July 27, 2026
- Sentence type
- Life sentence
Offence details
- Incident area
- Princes Street and York Place, Edinburgh
- Offence start date
- May 25, 2025
Orders and requirements
- Notification requirements
- Sex offender notification requirements indefinitely
Source-checked editorial summary
This record is based on the public reports listed below and was last checked on August 19, 2026. Court outcomes may later change through appeals, resentencing, corrections or updated reporting.
The bus-stop abduction
Aaron Strachan, 21, approached a 15-year-old girl while she waited at a bus stop in Edinburgh city centre during the early hours of 25 May 2025.
Crown Office prosecutors said the girl felt uneasy and moved towards Princes Street, where other people were present.
CCTV then recorded Strachan, who was wearing a balaclava, following her from a distance.
He ran towards her when she sat at another bus stop, threatened to harm her while carrying a knife, and seized her by the shoulders.
Strachan forcibly led the girl to the basement of a building on York Place.
He blocked the door with wooden pallets before raping her.
The official report says Strachan did not know the victim before the attack.
DNA, arrest and further violence
Investigators identified Strachan after his DNA was recovered from the scene.
Police saw him on Dalry Road on 1 June 2025.
He ran from officers but was found hiding in shrubbery a short time later.
The court case also covered two separate violent assaults.
Strachan admitted repeatedly stabbing a man in the hand with a knife, causing severe injury, only hours before the rape.
He further admitted striking another man on the head with a claw hammer on 28 May 2025, causing injuries that endangered the man's life.
On 4 December 2025, Strachan pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh to rape and the violent offences.
Escape, sentence and indefinite requirements
Sentencing was adjourned after the guilty pleas.
On 13 January 2026, Strachan escaped from custody while leaving the court building, but police caught him a short time later.
On 27 July 2026, the High Court in Edinburgh imposed an Order for Lifelong Restriction.
This is an indefinite custodial sentence under which release can be considered only when the Parole Board is satisfied that it would not endanger public safety.
The court set a minimum term of 5 years before Strachan can be considered for parole.
The published prosecution account also confirms that his name was added to the sex offenders register indefinitely.