A MAN who was jailed today (Monday) after having sex with four underage schoolgirls told a court he was "trying to hide" that he was gay.

Alexander Borthwick, 20, also raped one of the victims when she was aged 15 and he was a teenager.

Borthwick assaulted the girl at a flat in Portobello and carried out the rape after she told him to stop.

She told the High Court in Edinburgh: "I couldn't get him to stop. He is a lot stronger than me."

Borthwick, formerly of West Barns, had denied a string of sexual offences during a trial but was found guilty of six charges of underage sex, one of sexual activity with a girl under 16, and one of rape.

He was acquitted of a further rape charge which it was alleged took place against a 12-year-old girl at an address in Musselburgh in October 2015.

All of Borthwick's offending occurred at addresses in Musselburgh and Portobello between 2016 and 2018.

He was on bail until the jury returned its verdicts today with a special condition not to enter Musselburgh.

The trial judge, Lord Beckett, told Borthwick that he had been convicted of charges which taken together were "very serious indeed".

Borthwick's defence counsel Mark Moir said: "Standing the verdict of the jury, Your Lordship will clearly be considering a custodial sentence in this case."

Mr Moir said he was instructed to ask for the first offender's bail to be continued while a background report was prepared on him ahead of sentencing next month.

The judge remanded him in custody.

Borthwick told the court that he was friends with one victim but did not have a sexual relationship with her.

Mr Moir asked him how it came to an end and he replied: "I came out as gay."

He said the girl kicked up a fuss and ran out screaming.

His counsel asked him how he identified himself sexually in his own mind during the time of the offending. He said: "I knew I was gay but tried to hide it."

One girl, who had sex with Borthwick when she was 14, said she had gone to a flat in Musselburgh and he took her through to a bedroom and started kissing her before intercourse. She said she felt "pressured".

The girl, now 18, told the court: "He told me not to say anything."

She later told police: "He knew my age and I knew his."

Unemployed Borthwick was put on the sex offenders' register.