November 2019

Man jailed for sexual abuse in West Lothian

A man responsible for the sexual abuse of girls as young as four in West Lothian has been jailed.

Alistair White, now aged 56, was convicted following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, 25 October where he was found guilty of indecent assault and four charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour.

Yesterday was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow to six years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register for life.

White, of Broxburn, West Lothian, was 13-years-old when he sexually abused a six-year-old girl in the town in 1977.

Two more young girls, aged five and seven, were subject to abuse in the late 1970s and a fourth girl, aged four, was abused when he was 24-years-old.

November 2019

Paedophile who sexually abused an eight-year-old girl until she turned 12 has been jailed for three years

Francis Hardie, from Haddington, pleaded guilty to repeatedly using lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour towards the youngster between 1984 and 1988.

The “violent drunk” started by simulating sex with her and progressed to worse abuse until, for no apparent reason, he stopped when she started going to secondary school.

The girl, now an adult in her 40s, said in a victim impact statement that she continued to suffer from the mental impact of his abuse to this day.

Livingston Sheriff Court was told that Hardie, 70, satisfied his perverted sexual cravings when the victim was in his care at his then homes in Broxburn and Blackburn, West Lothian.

The girl’s mother trusted Hardie to look after her daughter and two other children while she was dealing with marriage difficulties and separation from the children’s father.

Ignorant of what Hardie had been doing to her daughter, she continued to allow her to visit him after she won a battle awarding her care of her children.

She only learned how he had used her daughter to satisfy his depraved lust when the girl blurted out the shocking revelations to her when she turned 14 – two years after the abuse had stopped.

The furious mum confronted Hardie, who told her he would hand himself into police.

However, when officers interviewed him, he initially denied sexually abusing the girl and claimed there had been no confrontation.

Hardie, of Edward Court, Haddington, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, reduced from four years because of his early guilty pleas.

Sheriff Kenneth Maciver told him he had admitted repeated and serious sexual abuse of the young girl over a four-year period when she was aged seven or eight and when she was 11 or 12.

He said: “It had a significant effect on her at the time which must have been apparent to you, and when it ultimately ended as she reached the age of around 12 and went to high school the effects on her did not end and have continued.

“I’ve been advised in terms of the victim impact statement that she has continued to suffer and will continue to suffer as a consequence of your actions and sexual abuse.

“You now obviously are a much older man but at the time you had a previous conviction for a serious sexual assault – an assault with intent to rape – and you had other convictions and you’d experienced a custodial sentence.

It’s fair to say that you’re a drunk and violent man in addition to being a sexual abuser, and I say that because you have to understand that courts dealing with historic sexual abuse have to deal with them as if those offences had happened very recently.

“A custodial sentence can’t be avoided in your case. There is no other sentence which is appropriate having regard to the gravity of the offence, and the passage of time doesn’t alter that.”

The sheriff told Hardie his name would remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

He highlighted that the guilty plea had meant Hardie’s victim had not needed to suffer the further ordeal of giving evidence before a jury.

He added: “This matter for her is at an end because you have accepted your guilt. So there’s no appeal and she can move on and make such recovery as she can.”

Asked for her reaction to the prison sentence for her abuser, Hardie’s victim replied: “I’m buzzing!”

December 2019

Pervert put hand down pants of girl, 7 jailed

SEXUAL predator who preyed on young girls in the aisles of a supermarket was caged for two years and nine months.

Monster Michael Glavin admitted groping a seven-year-old as she played in the toy section in a Tesco store in Bathgate, West Lothian, on August 15.

The “distressed” youngster ran back to her mum who was nearby and told her: “I’m scared because a man was following me.

“He tried to go down my skirt. He put his finger down my pants.”

Shortly afterwards Glavin approached two 12-year-old girls in the same store.

He asked if they wanted “some Coke”, told them they were “gorgeous” and made sexual comments to them before they hurried off and contacted an adult.

After Glavin’s victims pointed him out to store management, staff found him in the ladies clothing section holding a nightie in one hand and masturbating himself with the other.

They ejected him from the store and detained him until police arrived to arrest him.

Andy Aitken, defending, said Glavin accepted that his actions must have caused “significant distress and upset” to the complainers and to the wider community.

He added: “In his sober and lucid state he fully accepts that.

“I can only mirror what he’s said to the social worker where he’s shown some insight into his offending.

“His position is remorseful, he’s apologetic and he describes his attitude towards himself as one of ‘disgust’.”

On the day of the offences, Mr Aitken said Glavin had “self-medicated” for depression by consuming a large quantity of drugs he had bought off the internet.

He added: “This disinhibited him and raised his libido. The author of the psychiatric report says this allowed a deep rooted attraction to children to assert itself.”

Glavin, an IT expert who once held public sector jobs with the National Health Service and the Ministry of Defence, showed no emotion as he was jailed at Livingston Sheriff Court.

The 47-year-old was told he would remain subject to close supervision by social workers for three years under the extended sentence following his eventual release from prison.

He was warned that if he breaches any of the strict conditions after completing the two years and nine months custodial part he will be recalled to jail to complete the rest of his sentence.

His name will also remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Passing sentence on Glavin, currently a prisoner in Edinburgh, Sheriff Kenneth McIver told him he regarded his sexual offending as extremely serious.

He said: “I can’t stress too much how much the court has to take a serious view of sexual offending against very young children and offending of this type which clearly indicated that you were looking for children who were complete strangers to you for the purpose of committing these crimes against them.

“There was no connection between you and the children. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and encountered you when you were behaving in a sexually predatory manner.

“For reasons which only you can understand they seem to be connected to you taking illicit substances and behaving in a way you wouldn’t otherwise have behaved.

“It’s fortunate the children had the presence of mind to get away from you as they did and to run to their parents and report you.”

The sheriff said a custodial sentence was “absolutely essential” on the basis that Glavin had gone into a public place – a shop – and committed serious offences against children.

He added: “This is offending which has caused fear and alarm to children and to their immediate family, who were affected by it by being present and having it reported to them – also the alarm to the general public caused by caused by sexual offending towards young children in a public place on more than one occasion where more than one child was involved.

“That places it in a category of gravity which I have to recognise. The appropriate starting point for any sentence will be one of four years imprisonment. I’ll make the full one-third rreduction which is appropriate for your immediate acceptance of a guilty plea.”

He said the sentence would be backdated to August 19, when Glavin was first remanded in custody.

November 2019

Pervert put hand down pants of girl, 7, in Bathgate Tesco toy aisle before masturbating with nightie

A sexual predator sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl as she looked at toys in a Scots supermarket.

Michael Glavin walked up to the youngster, put his hand down underwear and groped her in the toy aisle of a Tesco branch in Bathgate.

The “distressed” youngster ran back to her mum in the nearby clothing aisle and told her: “I’m scared because a man was following me.

“He tried to go down my skirt. He put his finger down my pants.”

Jim Robertson, prosecuting, told Livingston Sheriff Court that a member of staff heard the child crying and spoke to the mother.

The shop assistant then informed the store manager who deployed staff in a bid to find the accused.

Meanwhile, Glavin approached two 12-year-old girls who had left the adult they were in the store with to go and buy some Coca Cola.

The accused, who was drinking from a bottle of cola, asked them if they wanted some of his. They declined his offer and walked away.

Mr Robertson went on: “He also told them they were ‘gorgeous’ and asked them to go to the clothing aisle with him.

“They walked away from him and one of the girls phoned her mum, who was also in the store.

“Their mother joined them and the girls then saw the accused leaving the store and pointed him out to the manager.”

Mr Robertson said Glavin came back into the shop shortly afterwards and staff were informed he was in the clothing section.

He had his back towards two staff, but as they got close to him they could see he was holding a nightie in one hand and appeared to be masturbating himself with the other.

They removed him from the shop floor and detained him until police arrived.

Glavin, 47, a prisoner at Edinburgh, was remanded in custody following a court appearance on 20 August.

He pled guilty on indictment today to committing three offences at the Tesco store in Blackburn Road, Bathgate, at around 8pm on 15 August this year.

He admitted sexually assaulting the seven year-old girl, making comments of a sexual nature to the 12 year-old girls and intentionally engaging in a sexual activity by masturbating in the presence of staff.

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch ordered that Glavin’s name be added to the Sex Offenders Register with immediate effect.

He remanded the accused in custody until sentence on 28 November.

October 2019

Predator who molested four-year-old girl raped and threatened teenager in West Lothian park

A rapist who attacked a teenage girl in a town park during a campaign of sex crime against victims was jailed for seven years.

Sex predator Ross Pullinger grabbed hold of the 15-year-old girl and threatened her during the rape ordeal in Bathgate, in West Lothian.

Pullinger (42) also molested another girl from the age of four and carried out a sex attack on an adult woman at a house in Blackburn, in West Lothian.

A judge told Pullinger at the High Court in Edinburgh: “Your crimes have had serious effects on your victims.”

Lord Uist said: “You must appreciate that you were convicted of grave sexual offences and these must attract a significant custodial sentence.”

The judge jailed Pullinger for a further nine months after he failed to appear for a court hearing in December last year.

He told the rapist that he would be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

Pullinger, a prisoner in Edinburgh, had earlier denied a string of charges but was found guilty of four sexual offences at an earlier trial at the High Court in Livingston.

He molested one girl at a house in Blackburn when she was aged nine and sexually touched her and got her to touch him during the abuse in 2003.

He later assaulted the same victim again and raped her at the park in Bathgate on an occasion between December 2008 and December the following year.

Pullinger sexually abused a second child at houses in Blackburn beginning in 2003 when she was aged just four.

He also attacked the adult woman in Blackburn with intent to rape her on an occasion between January 2007 and August the following year when he demanded she have sex with him, pulled her by the legs and tried to take off her trousers.

Defence counsel Niall McCluskey said that Pullinger appreciated that a custodial sentence was “inevitable” following his conviction.

July 2019

West Lothian paedo armed with knife, lube and rubber gloves ‘rape kit’ who tried to abuse girl, 7, in restaurant toilet is jailed

A sexual predator snared with a ‘rape kit’ after trying to abuse a little girl in a restaurant toilet has been jailed.

Twisted Scott Beattie, dragged the terrified youngster, seven, into a locked cubicle before exposing himself to her and trying to pull down her trousers.

The 31-year-old, blasted by a sheriff for his “deviant sexual interests”, targeted the kid in a popular family restaurant in Livingston, West Lothian.

The schoolgirl only managed to escape when the sicko unlocked the door and ordered her to wash her hands.

She ran back to her mum and later told cops she’d tried to scream but couldn’t because she was “too scared”.

Officers caught Beattie after viewing CCTV footage from the restaurant.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard he was found with a ‘rape kit’ consisting of lubricant, latex gloves and a lock knife in his rucksack.

Beattie already has 21 previous convictions for a “broad spectrum” of offending behaviour.

At the time of the little girl’s toilet ordeal, he was on bail after being charged with voyeurism for following a woman into a toilet at Livingston Designer Outlet and peering at her over the cubicle wall.

A victim impact statement written by the seven-year-old’s mum was read out in court.

It revealed the youngster had since had nightmares involving “the bad man” and needed cuddles from her parents to calm her.

Assistant procurator fiscal Deborah Demick told Livingston Sheriff Court: “She still talks about what happened regularly but, given her age, she’s too young to understand the severity of the situation.

“Luckily she doesn’t worry or stress about other possible outcomes.”

Beattie, of Blackburn, West Lothian, pled guilty to placing the girl in a state of fear and alarm by pushing her into the cubicle, locking the door, exposing himself to her and trying to lower her trousers on February 15.

He also pled guilty to following a woman into the female toilets at the Hot Flame restaurant in Livingston Centre on January 13, entering the middle cubicle next to her’s and watching her as she used the toilet.

Beattie’s lawyer Kevin Dugan said the social worker’s assessment that his client presented a possible danger to the public in future was an accurate one.

He admitted: “A period of imprisonment is obviously merited here given the serious nature of the charges.”

Passing sentence, Sheriff Martin Edington told Beattie he had considered a psychological report which showed the fiend suffered from a borderline personality disorder.

He added: “You attempted to deny – certainly to minimise – your involvement.

“It seems to me you will say anything to anyone if you think it will help your position.

“The social work report discloses you have a strong sexual appetite and you are at increased risk of committing a further general offence and you are in a high category of sexual reconviction, partly because of your deviant sexual interests.

“There is also a compelling victim impact statement which does not attempt to exaggerate the position your seven year old victim found herself in or the possible consequences for that.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that for these offences only a custodial sentence, and indeed a lengthy custodial sentence, is appropriate.”

Beattie was jailed for 49 months and two weeks, backdated to February 18.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.