A PERTH man who raped two young girls in Dundee more than 30 years ago has failed in his bid to have his sentence cut.
Samuel Thompson was jailed in 2011 for the offences, which were carried out when he was aged between 13 and 21.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Kinclaven ordered Thompson, then 53, to serve nine years in jail for the offences, which took place between June 12 1971 and August 17 1979.
Thompson launched his first appeal bid in 2012, but failed to get his sentence overturned.
However he persuaded the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to launch a second appeal bid, which was heard at the Court of Session this week.
In their referral to the court, the group argued that offenders guilty of similar offences had received lesser sentences and questioned whether Thompson’s sentence was excessive as he had admitted the offences before trial.
Appeal judges were told Thompson had an “unhappy dysfunctional childhood”.
Appeal judge Lord Carloway said: “The sentence selected by the first instance court was at the higher end of what might be considered reasonable for this type of offending.
“Nevertheless, the sole question for this court is whether in all the circumstances the sentence selected can be described as excessive.”
He ruled that the repeated nature of the offence and the age of the victims meant it was not and refused the appeal.