A SEX predator who raped a sleeping woman 30 years his junior is behind bars.

James Black, 60, struck at his flat in Ardrossan on October 13, 2019.

The shocked victim woke up before racing out to wait for a taxi in the lashing rain.

She went on to blurted to the driver: "I think I have just been raped."

Black denied the crime during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow insisting the woman had enjoyed having sex with him.

But, he was today [Thursday, October 28] found guilty of the rape charge and was remanded in custody pending sentencing in December.

The pair knew each other and were said to have had "a good night" prior to the attack.

The woman agreed to stay overnight at Black's flat in Ardrossan's Dockers Gardens.

Black later pounced as she lay in bed initially asleep.

Recalling the attack, she said: "It was really quiet. He did not speak...like he was trying not to make any noise at all.

"I tried to roll away, but he continued. It was weirdly quiet. The impression I got was he was trying not to wake me up."

The woman was eventually able to leap out the bed and out the flat.

She got a taxi even though she had little money to get home.

In the cab, the tearful victim stated: "I think I have just been raped. What gave him the right? 

"I was asleep. I did not give him any encouragement."

The woman was later described as looking "empty and distant" following her ordeal.

Black told jurors he was not "in love" with the younger woman despite texts appearing to show he had feelings for her.

He claimed she was in "ecstasy" at having consensual sex with him.

But, in his speech to jurors, prosecutor Michael Macintosh described Black's evidence as "fantasy rather than reality".

Black, of Ardrossan, had been on bail during the trial.

However, judge Lady Rae told the first offender: "You have been convicted of a very serious crime.

"I cannot sentence you without a background report. In the meantime, you will be remanded in custody."