How abuser’s victims had to wait 35 years to get justice
Care home predator facing life
VICTIMS of a vicious care home paedophile last night criticised the authorities for forcing them to wait nearly 35 years for justice.
Alistair Findlay preyed on the vulnerable youngsters during the 1970s and 1980s while working at Park Lodge Children’s Home in Glasgow’s Newlands.
He was initially prosecuted in 1984, following allegations by residents – but was acquitted.
This week, however, Findlay faces a life sentence after being found guilty at the end of last year of seven sexual offences charges.
Decades after he first walked free, Police Scotland raised a fresh investigation into claims against him, finally securing a guilty verdict at the High Court in Glasgow in November.
But when he is sentenced this week it will be a bittersweet victory for his victims, who were told that Findlay had gone on to commit a string of other sex offences in the intervening decades.
Last night, one of his victims said: ‘It’s long overdue. He should have been locked up a very long time ago.’
Findlay, 59, was employed as a ‘house parent’ at Park Lodge. Known for his voluntary work with children, he was also a swimming coach. Born into an outwardly respectable middleassault class family, he was, his victims said, seen as a pillar of the community.
The offences for which he is due to be sentenced were committed between 1976 and 1983.
In court, Findlay denied the allegations and said the claims had been made as revenge for his acquittal in the 1984 trial.
He also insisted another girl had been ‘put up’ to making up accusations about him.
But prosecutors said his claims were ‘simply incredible’.
Findlay was found guilty of lewd and libidinous conduct against two girls and one boy at Park Lodge.
He was also convicted of sexual against the boy at the home. In addition, he was found guilty of the same two charges involving the boy at a swimming pool and a further charge of lewd and libidinous conduct against another girl. During the intervening years since his first trial, Findlay had been sentenced to a six-year prison term in 1999 for trying to persuade two prostitutes to recruit a ten-year-old girl into a paedophile ring.
He was later jailed for having indecent images of children and breaching an internet ban only hours after being released.
In 2016, he was sentenced to two years for abusing boys during swimming lessons.
One victim, who cannot be identified, was only six years old when she was first abused by Findlay in 1982.
She said: ‘I think the justice system has failed in this case.
‘It is a fact that Findlay was never going to change his behaviour. He can’t change his behaviour. You can see that. He could be consistently examined and clinically assessed. But he wasn’t going to change.
‘He was charged, served a handful of years, then released to re-offend.
‘There must be many more children who have remained tight-lipped over the years and are too traumatised to speak.’
She added: ‘They need to throw away the key.’
Another former resident of the children’s home also spoke out ahead of the convicted paedophile’s sentencing.
The man, who is now married, said: ‘It destroyed part of my life. I’m aware that he is being sentenced and all I can say is that it’s long overdue. He should have been locked up a very long time ago.
‘The only place I feel safe is in the sanctuary of my home with my family.’
Findlay, who is remanded in custody, is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.
‘He should have been locked up long ago’
‘They need to throw away the key’