August 2010

Pervert subjected his victims to ‘sadistic sexual terrorism’

A PERVERT could die in prison after he was jailed for 15 years for what a judge branded “sadistic sexual terrorism”.

Colin Whitelaw, who was working as an accountant in Port Talbot, and who gave a Llanelli address in court, was back in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow after he was earlier convicted of attacking three terrified children.

The accountant was snared when one of his victims told a psychiatrist prior to him being sentenced for a murder that he had been abused.

Judge Bill Dunlop told the 58-year-old — who maintains he is the victim of a “conspiracy” — that the offences were “sick and grotesque”.

He went on: “These were children — you subjected them to sadistic sexual terrorism. You violated their trust and their bodies.”

As well as the jail term, Judge Dunlop also ordered Whitelaw, who worked as an accountant at Lewis, Ladd and Company in Port Talbot, be supervised for five years should he ever be released.

Whitelaw looked ashen faced as he was led handcuffed to the cells.

A harrowing trial heard how all three youngsters were raped and sexually abused at various locations in Midlothian in the 1960s and 70s.

He faced a total of 12 charges against three people, including assault to injury, assault rape under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1922 and sodomy

Members of the jury broke into tears when the guilty verdict was returned.

The first victim told the jury how he was attacked numerous times by Whitelaw.

He added: “I was told that I would be beaten if I told anyone what had happened.”

He also recalled how on one occasion he had to set his dog on the pervert to get him away. The abuse finally stopped when the victim threw a bottle of bleach at Whitelaw years later.

The man only revealed his ordeal to a psychiatrist around three years ago while waiting to be sentenced for murdering a woman.

Whitelaw’s second victim told the jury Whitelaw raped him and burned him with a lit cigarette.

The third victim told how she tore clumps of her hair out and flushed it down the toilet as a result of her ordeal that lasted for nine years.

Former soldier Whitelaw — who married his gay partner of 23 years in a civil partnership last year — claimed during the trial the trio had concocted a “pack of evil lies”.

His QC Donald Findlay said: “He adamantly maintains that he has been the victim of a horrendous miscarriage of justice and a conspiracy.”

He added: “It is not beyond possibility that Mr Whitelaw may die in prison.”

Following the guilty verdicts last month a spokesman for Lewis, Ladd and Company expressed the firm’s horror at discovering Whitelaw’s past.

He said: “It’s shocking. The staff have been told and they are all shocked. He came from an agency in 2008. He said he was having some family problems in Scotland and asked for some leave. Then we had a phone call saying he wasn’t coming back.”