A care worker repeatedly raped a disabled man in a residential home in Fife.

Steven Watson was jailed for six years and four months for the sex attacks on his victim, who requires 24-hour care, while employed as a relief support worker with a disability charity.

A judge told the 64-year-old at the High Court in Edinburgh it was a "dreadful crime" committed against a person he was paid to care for.

Lord Beckett said it was a serious offence committed in "gross breach of trust" of a man who was unable to consent and unable to physically resist.

The judge told the former foreign aid worker, who was previously employed overseas with charities such as Oxfam and Save the Children, that he would have jailed him for nine years but for his guilty plea.

He told Watson that he would be on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Watson, of Dunfermline, Fife, carried out sexual assaults on his 44-year-old victim on three occasions.

Depute Jane Farquharson told the court: "He had been in this role as a support worker for 15 to 20 years.

"It is employment that saw the accused caring for some of the most vulnerable members of society many of whom including the complainer have limited communication and mobility skills."

The prosecutor added: "The role of a support worker is to attempt to make a service user's life as normal as possible."

She said the victim has a number of conditions, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and severe learning difficulties and is confined to a wheelchair.

Ms Farquharson added: "He cannot do anything for himself and requires assistance in all aspects of his daily living.

"He can express himself, using yes and no answers, head movements, and through the use of visual communication aids but only if asked a simple and closed question."

Watson had taken the man to a restaurant in Dunfermline during his shift before returning to the residential home on January 6.

When they returned the man indicated he wanted to go to bed. A woman support worker offered to help Watson with the task, which involved using an overhead hoist, but he declined the offer.

He then wheeled the man into his bedroom and closed the door.

The woman later returned because she wanted to speak to Watson and knocked on the bedroom door and immediately walked in.

Watson had his back to the door and was standing facing the man's bed.

Ms Farquharson said: "She formed the impression he was flustered."

She told another worker of her concerns and was advised to report to their supervisor.

The woman wanted to go and check on the resident's welfare and tried to go to the room to speak to him alone but each time Watson would appear and she was unable to talk to him in private.

She later spoke to a team leader and raised her concerns and told her she felt she had "interrupted something". The team leader spoke to a manager who contacted police.

Another worker later took the man out on a car trip to see relatives but noticed a change in his behaviour and asked if anything was wrong.

He asked if something had happened to him and received a positive indication and the man confirmed it was Watson who was responsible.

Watson also admitted to carrying out two further sex acts on the man before Christmas.

He earlier admitted to assaulting and raping the man, who because of a mental disorder, was incapable of giving consent on three occasions between December 1 last year and January 6 at a residential unit.