AN IRVINE man has appeared in court accused of raping and sexually assaulting two former partners over a period of almost three years.

John Sturgeon denies 11 separate charges relating to incidents alleged to have happened between August 2018 and April 2021 at addresses in Kilwinning, Kilmarnock and elsewhere.

The first charge against the 41-year-old accuses him of causing a woman fear and alarm by, among other actions, repeatedly criticising her appearance, repeatedly accusing her of infidelity, monitoring and controlling her movements, and repeatedly demanding she perform a sex act on him between August 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019.

The second charge details similar alleged behaviour, this time with the Crown claiming that a “course of abusive behaviour” took place between April 1, 2019 and February 19, 2021 – including allegations that he followed the woman in his car, assaulted her, threatened to kill her if she contacted police, and stole her car key in order to interrogate her mobile phone.

Charge three accuses him of sexually assaulting the same woman on various occasions between December 1, 2018 and September 26, 2020.

In two further charges, the Crown alleges that Mr Sturgeon raped the same woman at an address in Kilmarnock on various occasions between the same two date, and at an address in the Dundee area on a single further date.

Five further charges relate to offences Mr Sturgeon is alleged to have committed against a second woman, who is not initially described as his partner.

In one he is accused of sexually assaulting the second woman at an address in Irvine by kissing her during August 2020, and in another he is accused of attempting to rape her at a different location in Irvine on October 17 of the same year.

The eighth charge on the Crown’s indictment alleges that Mr Sturgeon engaged in a course of abusive behaviour against this woman between October 21, 2020 and April 29, 2021 by, among other actions, repeatedly clicking his fingers in front of her face, repeatedly accusing her of infidelity, repeatedly telling her what clothes she could wear, controlling her associations with male friends, and repeatedly threaten to make a false allegation to police that the woman had assaulted him.

This charge also claims that on one occasion he cut his wrist with a knife in the woman’s presence, that he repeatedly demanded that she take intimate photographs of him, and that he repeatedly physically assaulted her.

The ninth charge alleges that he sexually assaulted the woman at an address in Irvine between October 21, 2020 and April 29 the following year.

The final two charges on the indictment accuse him of raping the woman on various occasions at the same Irvine address between the same two dates.

The last charge also claims that he pulled her hair and seized and compressed her neck during the course of the alleged attacks.

Mr Sturgeon pleaded not guilty to all the charges during a brief hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.

He was released on bail and is due to return to court to stand trial in the spring of 2024.