A man who raped a woman 1,000 times and tortured another by attacking her with his pet 9ft (3m) snake has been jailed for 14 years.

The High Court in Glasgow heard John Dickson, 38, carried out a 17-year reign of abuse against four women, reports the BBC.

Ex-labourer Dickson was found guilty of five charges including rape and domestic abuse.

The crimes took place mainly in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, between 2000 and 2017.

The first victim recalled being ‘in tears’ as Dickson regularly raped her.

Boa constrictor

She said: ‘I would say to him: ‘No, I don’t want to.’

Detailing the extent of the attacks, prosecutor Duncan McPhie told jurors: ‘This all occurred on a number of occasions - three to four times a week between 2000 and 2005.’

Dickson went on to rape and abuse another woman and even tormented her with his large boa constrictor snake.

This victim recalled feeling ‘uncomfortable’ around it before Dickson used the pet to assault her.

The traumatised woman said: ‘He chucked it on me a couple of times I was terrified.’

The sex attacks were so regular - sometimes when she was asleep - they ended up feeling ‘normal’.

This included Dickson raping her in a train toilet while travelling to Edinburgh, and at her sister’s home.

He also pounced on her near the River Clyde in Muirhouse, North Lanarkshire.

‘Degrading and humiliating’

Jurors heard she was often battered, spat on and insulted.

The woman recalled one attack when she was ‘punched from head to toe for over an hour’.

The court heard Dickson also fathered a child with another woman while dating her.

Two other partners were further victims of Dickson’s temper.

One was so scared of him she was found cowering in a storage cupboard near his flat.

 McPhie said: ‘She told a policeman that he had assaulted her. She told him she had a knife in her hands because she was scared of Dickson.’

Judge Graeme Buchanan said the women had suffered ‘degrading and humiliating’ ordeals.

He told Dickson: ‘This was a course of criminal conduct of a quite extreme nature and you have shown no remorse whatsoever.’

Dickson will be monitored for four years after his release.