Fetishist jailed for scalping women

A former hairdresser with a fetish for female hair was jailed for eight years yesterday after he was convicted of scalping a woman.

Leonard Bowie, 62, lured his victim to his home with the offer of a haircut and then cut strips of hair and flesh from her head using a razor. Mary Mullady, 51, was distraught and disfigured after the attack, which left her needing a series of skin grafts.

The High Court in Edinburgh was told that Bowie, who also pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman with Down's syndrome, was said to be suffering from a deteriorating brain condition.

Bowie served a year in jail for attacking a woman 19 years ago. He was described as a man with "a dull to average IQ" .

Frances McMenamin QC, for the defence, told the court that medical tests had shown Bowie, who had lured his victims back to his bedsit in Aberdeen, had a "fairly marked atrophy of the brain" caused by alcohol abuse.

She said Bowie had remained obsessed about hair since he worked as an apprentice hairdresser at the age of 19.

In passing sentence, Lord Wheatley said the defendant had committed two "extremely serious and horrific offences", which required the judge to pass an "exemplary sentence".