A SEX fiend who raped a 14-year-old girl in Barrhead town centre has been ordered to spend nine years behind bars.

Samuel Ciornei, from Romania, had only been in the UK for three weeks when he pounced on his terrified victim on August 7 last year.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that 20-year-old Ciornei watched the schoolgirl as she cycled to the town's Asda store to buy sweets.

While she was inside, he deflated her tyre.

He then followed her as she pushed her bike and appeared to offer to help carry out repairs.

Seconds later, he held a piece of broken glass to her throat and dragged her into bushes behind the Iceland store in Main Street.

Cornei then subjected her to a horrific sexual attack which lasted seven minutes.

Passing sentence today, Judge Kenneth Maciver told Cornei: “This was a disgusting and disgraceful sexual assault on a entirely innocent and unsuspecting 14-year-old girl who was out cycling on a quiet summer's evening last year.

“This appalling attack also has a sinister edge to it. I am clear on the available evidence this was no chance encounter. It was planned and premeditated.

“It can't be a coincidence that when this girl came out the shop she had a flat tyre. I am clear you deflated the tyre.

“When she stopped to check her tyre, within 40 seconds you were beside her and offered to pump up her tyre. After a further 30 seconds, you produced from your pocket a sliver of broken glass.”

Judge Maciver said that Cornei should be compulsorily returned to Romania at the end of his sentence.

The court heard that the girl's ordeal only ended when he demanded money and she managed to gesture to the bag she had on her back.

When he grabbed it off her, she managed to break free and run for help.

The court heard that Cornei's victim has suffered ongoing and enduring emotional trauma.

After trial, he was unanimously found guilty of the rape.

The schoolgirl said in evidence she cycled Asda to buy sweets and chained her bike outside when she saw Ciornei sitting nearby.

When she returned to her bike, she noticed it had a flat tyre and walked it to the nearby Iceland supermarket car park to inspect it.

She told prosecutor Iain McSporran QC that Cornei, who was wearing a "really distinctive hat," had gestured that she needed a hand pump.

He put her bike on the ground, took the dust-cap off the tyre and put it in his pocket.

The girl said: "When he put the dust-cap in his pocket, he pulled out a medium-sized piece of glass.

"It was brown and quite jagged. He then put the glass up to my throat, he grabbed my hair and then he gestured for me to go to the bushes."

Asked why she went in, the witness said: "Because I was scared."

She described being raped and "moaning or whimpering" in a bid to make Ciornei understand she didn't want anything to happen.

Footage from a CCTV camera showed Ciornei “directing or pushing” the girl into the bushes before following her in.

Seven minutes later, they emerged and she was seen breaking free from him and fleeing.

Ciornei, who gave evidence through an interpreter, claimed he had followed the girl as he intended to steal her bike.

He admitted kissing her but denied rape.

Ciornei, who worked as a shepherd in his home village after leaving school, only arrived in Scotland on July 19 last year and stayed with family members in Barrhead.

He has been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register.

Defence counsel Geoff Forbes said that Cornei maintains he did not rape the girl.

Mr Forbes added: “He is a first offender. Standing the verdict of the jury, there is nothing I can say.”