Jailed, sex abuse PE teacher who preyed on pupils
A PE teacher who repeatedly preyed on vulnerable pupils at a school where he taught has been jailed for 16 months.
Bruce Rankin, 61, abused one girl who was aged between 13 and 15 and also targeted another who was 16.
The younger girl believed he was trying to comfort her when he cuddled her but he groped her over the top of her clothing.
He targeted the second victim as she sat alone working in a school library and placed his hands on her knee and rubbed the inside of her thigh.
The incidents took place at a school in Lanarkshire.
Rankin, of Strathaven, Lanarkshire, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour and indecent assault between March 2007 and September 2010. He was jailed by Sheriff Douglas Brown and placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
Marco Guarino, defending, said: ‘Following initial proceedings it is fair to say the impact it had on him and his family was great, he was ostracised in the close knit community of Strathaven and one of his daughters did not speak to him for a very long time.
‘These are legitimate appropriate proceedings and he must face the consequences. His fall from grace has been spectacular and deep. In my submission it would be inappropriate and excessive to impose a custodial sentence.’
Sheriff Brown said: ‘In my view these were very serious offences in that they involved offences committed on young girls over a lengthy period of time while you were in a position of trust as their teacher.
‘The breach of trust is a significant factor in sentencing and the court has to make clear that behaviour like this by a teacher is unacceptable and will be punished.
‘The only appropriate sentence is imprisonment.’
Serial offender Rankin was jailed for 18 months in 2017
‘Breach of trust is significant’
after admitting abusing three girls, including two pupils at the school where he taught.
A probe revealed he had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Glasgow city centre and at her house during a party.
Investigations further revealed Rankin had sexually assaulted a girl in a church hall in 2014.
However, that sentence was quashed at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh and he was handed 150 hours of unpaid work and put under supervision for three years.
Rankin retired from teaching in 2014 less than a year after he was given a written warning regarding his conduct in the classroom.