A pervert Tayside Scout leader’s victim spoke of his lifetime of torment as he saw his abuser jailed for three years.
The man was just eight when James Sinclair fondled him during a Scout camp, one of two youngsters the 48-year-old abused during trips in Angus and the Highlands about 20 years ago.
As Sinclair was led from the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court on Thursday to begin his prison term, the victim bravely spoke out to reveal he would never be free of the trauma caused by what a sheriff described as a gross breach of trust, but hoped the sentence might help bring some form of closure to his ordeal.
Sinclair, of Findhorn Place, Dundee, previously admitted an indictment containing charges of abusing two boys, aged between six and eleven, between 1991 and 1993 at Tannadice near Forfar and in the Fort William area.
The court heard both youngsters woke up during the night to discover Sinclair, known to boys as Jim or Jimmy, touching them under their nightwear.
Both victims suffered serious personal difficulties as they grew up, with flashbacks leading one of them to attempt suicide.
Sinclair was thrown out of the Scout movement when the offences eventually came to light and his lawyer, Michael Boyd, told the court the conduct had led to his ”social exclusion”.
”He recognises that he was in a position of trust and the damage he has caused to these individuals,” he said. ”He also recognises the wider societal concerns that this will raise throughout Scotland and the UK.”
Jailing Sinclair, Sheriff Kevin Veal said a lengthy probation order would have sent out the wrong public message.
”The serious criminal conduct of the accused must be appropriately marked and has to reflect wider society’s revulsion of the accused, when he was in position of trust with these two very young children,” he said.
”The circumstances of the case would have more than justified an extended sentence. The dates of commission dictate that such a disposal is not competent. Had such a disposal been available to me I would have certainly imposed it.”
Sinclair was also place on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
After seeing him jailed, one of Sinclair’s victims said: ”No matter what sentence he got, it was never going to be long enough.”
”There is never going to be an end to this for me, but it has been 22 years to get some kind of justice, something done. This might bring some kind of closure.”