A VIOLENT thug who viciously assaulted seven women over a 16-year period is facing life behind bars.

Despicable Gerry McMurray (34) battered the females, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at various locations in Fife, including Dunfermline, Rosyth and Kelty, between January 1997 and July 2013.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how McMurray also raped and sexually assaulted some of his victims during the horrifying physical attacks.

McMurray also abducted some of his victims and held them at locations in the Fife area against their will before launching ferocious physical attacks on them.

He would punch, kick, strangle, use weapons and threaten his victims with household items. On one occasion he sprayed deodorant into the eyes of one of the defenceless females.

On Friday, when he appeared in the dock, moments before judge Lady Wise arrived in court, McMurray turned to one of his victims, who was sitting in the public benches, and snarled: “You’re f*****g dead. Watch your back.” After hearing submissions from defence advocate Mark Stewart QC, Lady Wise decided to defer sentence on McMurray to January.

She told the sickening pervert, who sat in the dock handcuffed between two security officers, that she was considering imposing an Order for Lifelong Restriction on him.

Such an order would mean that McMurray would only be released when the parole board considered that he no longer posed a threat to public safety.

Reading from a report that had been commissioned earlier by the court into McMurray’s character, Lady Wise noted that he hadn’t expressed any remorse for his crimes.

She added, “He has no acknowledgement of, or any responsibility to, any of the offences to which he has been convicted of.” McMurray, a prisoner of HMP Perth, was convicted last month at the High Court on a total of 14 charges of rape, sexual assault and assault.

Sentence had been deferred until Friday in order for the court to obtain reports about McMurray’s character.

At the earlier proceedings, the court heard how McMurray repeatedly battered and raped his first victim at an address in Dunfermline between January 1997 and April 1997.

The court heard how on various occasions between October 1998 and January 2002, McMurray assaulted and indecently assaulted his second victim at an address in Rosyth.

The court heard that he dragged the woman from her bed by her hair, threw her against a wall, repeatedly punched and kicked her on the head and body and threw her to the floor before stabbing her with a fork.

He then pinned her against a freezer and strangled her. On another occasion, he dragged her along the floor of a room in a house by her hair before sexually assaulting her.

In June 2003, McMurray abducted and assaulted his third victim and confined her to an address in Dunfermline.

The court heard that he struck her with a pool cue, threw and pulled her by the hair before striking her head off a radiator. He then punched and slapped her on the head, forcing her to escape through a bedroom window.

On other occasions, he placed a knife against the woman’s throat and attempted to strangle her.

The court heard that on various occasions between June and September 2006, McMurray abducted and assaulted another woman and held her at a location in Fife.

The court heard that he struck the woman with a dumb bell before raping her.

On 7th September 2006, the court heard that he dragged her up a set of stairs at a house in Lochgelly and repeatedly punched her on the head and body before hitting her head off a wall. He then attempted to strangle her before raping her again.

In April 2008, he assaulted another woman and physically attacked her at a house at another location in Fife.

In October 2011, at another location in Fife, he confined another woman to a house before repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body. He then seized and dragged her by the hair.

The court heard that the woman then climbed out of a second-floor window and down scaffolding in order to escape from McMurray.

On an occasion between June and July 2013, McMurray raped another woman at an address in Kelty.

The court heard that McMurray was finally arrested after police collected enough evidence to prove he was guilty of wrongdoing on a large scale.

Defence counsel Mark Stewart QC urged Lady Wise to impose an extended sentence on his client, saying the imposition of an OLR would be a “drastic” step to take.

He added, “The report depicts Mr McMurray as someone who has a number of difficulties – both intellectual and emotional ones.

“There are a number of therapies available which would address these issues.

“He is someone who is amenable to intervention and he is someone who would benefit from such measures.

“An extended sentence is appropriate as it is effectively a sword that would hang over his head.

"Such a sentence would ensure compliance on his part and ensure protection of the public.” Lady Wise said that she wasn’t persuaded to give McMurray an extended sentence. She ordered that he be assessed for an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

She will decide whether to impose an OLR on McMurray at a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh on 7th January.