June 2008

Quarrier’s beast found guilty of child abuse

THE former head of a children’s home who avoided justice because of a legal blunder has been found guilty of abusing a girl in his care.

James Crawford last week became the eighth Quarrier’s worker to be convicted of abuse.

The 61-year-old, from Paisley, was a house father at one of the charity homes in the 1970s and preyed on a vulnerable teenage girl.

Three years ago, he walked free because a legal phrase was not included in his indictment.

But after a retrial at Greenock Sheriff Court, a jury last week convicted the father of four of going into a teenager’s bedroom and fondling her.

Five women originally made allegations and the jury found him not guilty of four other charges and not proven on a fifth.

Crawford and his first wife Dorothy had been in charge of 22 teenagers at the home in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire.

He will be sentenced next month.

Quarrier’s chief executive Dr Phil Robinson said: “Our sympathy is with the victim of this person.”

David Whelan, a victim of another abuser, called it “the tip of the iceberg”.

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