A pensioner guilty of horrific physical abuse against two young boys has been jailed for three years.
William Ramsay preyed on the youngsters during a 13-year reign of terror in Dundee.
Jurors heard how the now-71-year-old plunged the head of one terrified victim underwater.
Ramsay was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.
The pensioner had previously been convicted of five assault charges – including one to the danger of a boy’s life – spanning between 1978 and 1991 after the trial in Dundee earlier this year.
The jury found allegations he sexually abused one of the boys and raped a girl on various occasions to be not proven.
Unrepentant abuser
His lawyer Tony Lenehan KC had asked Lady Drummond to consider an alternative to custody but the judge told Ramsay: “Your behaviour must have had a harmful effect on them.
“One victim – now deceased – turned to substance abuse due to his treatment.
“You deny all responsibility, as you did at trial.
“You stated to the social worker (in a pre-sentencing report) that you have done nothing wrong despite being found guilty.
“You are critical of those that you have offended against.”
The hearing was told Ramsay was unable to carry out unpaid work as an alternative punishment due to apparent ill health and was also “unwilling” to pay a fine or compensation.
The judge said, in any event, only a jail-term was “appropriate”.
Ramsay, of Dundee, blew a kiss to a weeping woman in court as he was taken to the cells.
Trial heard of abuse
The trial previously heard how the victim who has since passed away was injured after being repeatedly hit on the head, punched and threatened.
On various occasions between 1978 and 1985, Ramsay attacked the boy in properties across Dundee.
In December 1983, when the youngster was 10, Ramsay repeatedly struck him on the head and body with his hands.
The other then child suffered similar attacks over a 13-year period from 1978 but was also kicked and had his head held underwater, putting his life in danger.
Ramsay’s co-accused, June Rattray, of Blairgowrie, admitted repeatedly striking the first child in 1985 with a belt at another property in Dundee, causing him injury.
She was fined £600 last month.
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