Former village police officer jailed for sexually abusing three young girls

The three girls he abused were aged between six and 12 at the time

A village policeman who sexually abused primary school girls in the quiet Scottish fishing communities he was supposed to protect, was jailed for four years and four months.

Iain Reid, who spent more than 20 years in Fife Constabulary, targeted three girls aged six to 12 while living in Buckhaven and Leven.

Reid, 66, lured the children with sweets, a chance to pat his dog or, in the case of one young girl, offers of lettuce for her rabbit.

Sheriff Craig Caldwell said he broke the trust placed in him as community policeman to carry out “protracted, sustained, and systematic” abuse of the girls, whom he “enticed” into his home.

After a five day trial, a jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court found Reid guilty of three charges of lewd and libidinous conduct – one of the charges aggravated by abduction – between 1980 and 1997.

During his trial last month one of Reid’s three victims recalled how he abused her in a bedroom in Buckhaven.

Another told jurors she could still remember the smell of his breath as he pulled her towards her and whispered in her ear, before performing an act of sexual abuse and then blocking her exit from the room and demanding a kiss in return for her freedom.

His third victim said he used to invite her into his house, which she passed on her way back from school.

She described a series of incidents of sexual abuse from the time she was six, over five or more years, at his home in Leven.

The abuse continued until she was in P7 and told her best friend. Together they went to see the school nurse. Police and social work were called in, but Reid was not prosecuted at the time, because there were no other witnesses. She said she reported the childhood abuse again when she was 20 and about to leave home, because she though it was “unfinished business”, but again no action was taken because of lack of corroboration.

Solicitor-advocate Krista Johnston, defending, said Reid was now a sick man, with depression and heart trouble.

Reid, who was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely, showed no emotion as he was led away.

Detective Superintendent Pauline McCallum said: “Iain Reid, who was a former police officer with Fife Constabulary, has shown himself to be capable of horrific offences against children.

“Police Scotland is committed to protecting our communities from people like Reid regardless of who they are and we will do everything in our power to bring such offenders to justice.

“I would like to pay testament to the courage of the victims of this case.

“Without their bravery in coming forward and their willingness to give evidence, Reid may well have still been able to harm others.”

Iain Reid was jailed for four years and four months.