A man who sexually abused and tried to murder a little girl has been given a life sentence.

William McArthur inflicted numerous injuries on the four-year-old victim in Grangemouth, Falkirk, and Armadale, West Lothian.

A judge told the 36-year-old he was a "serious danger to any women and children" he came into contact with.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Uist said: "The crimes which you committed on the four-year-old girl were ones of unspeakable, indeed incomprehensible, evil.

"Your treatment of her and the injuries you inflicted on her were quite horrific."

McArthur was ordered to serve a minimum seven years in jail before he became eligible to apply for parole.

In the murder bid on the four-year-old girl, he assaulted her on various occasions between October in 2017 and January last year.

The offence occurred at a house in Grangemouth and at McArthur's home address in Armadale.

He also sexually assaulted the child during the same period.

Lord Uist said he would only be released when it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public that he continued to be confined in prison.

McArthur had denied a series of charges but was convicted of a string of crimes.

He was found guilty of assaulting and raping a 29-year-old woman in June and July 2014 at a village near Dumfries.

McArthur was also convicted of attacking a six-year-old girl between March and July in 2014 in the Dumfriesshire village by threatening her with violence and brandishing a knife at her.

He was also found guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl at a house in Grangemouth in November 2017.

In addition to his jail sentence, McArthur was put on the sex offenders register indefinitely.