Ex-waverley captain guilty of sexually abusing boys

● Second time he has been found guilty of abuse linked to iconic ship

The former captain of the Waverley has been convicted of sexually abusing three teenage boys on board the paddle steamer more that 30 years ago.

David Neill, 75, of Galston, Ayrshire, denied the charges against him, and his victims gave evidence at the High Court in Glasgow. The victims, now in their 50s, told of their ordeal at the hands of Neill, who captained the Waverley from 1975 to 1997.

Judge Tom Hughes, who described the abuse as “appalling and horrendous”, told Neill: “Each of them has suffered catastrophic consequences as a result of your actions. You have blighted their lives.”

The court heard that Neill lured all three teenagers in with the promise of jobs on the ship and then a career in the navy.

Judge Hughes said: “They trusted you and looked to you to help them. The employment situation at that time would have been quite bleak. You appeared to offer them hope, but all you were interested in were your own wicked intentions.”

The four charges of indecent assault were committed between March 1982 and September 1987. Police began investigating Neill after one of the victims came forward a couple of years ago.

A 51-year-old man said Neill sexually abused him while he was working as a steward on the ship and then claimed it was a joke.

He claimed that on another night he was drunk and sleeping in the captain’s cabin and again woke to find Neil sexually abusing him.

The man said that he suffers from “flashbacks” including memories of the way Neill smelled which he described as being “sweat and Old Spice”. A 53-year-old man also told the jury he was sexually assaulted by Neill. He said he worked as a galley boy on the ship before jumping ship in Fort William.

Another 51-year-old, who worked as a steward and then a deck hand, said he was twice abused in the captain’s cabin. On both occasions he woke up to find Neil lying beside him.

Neil was placed on the sex offenders’ register and remanded. He will be sentenced later this month.

Neill was jailed for three years in 1998 at Glasgow Sheriff Court after being found guilty of abusing five teenage boys in his cabin.