Pensioner jailed for sexually abusing four boys

A PENSIONER has been jailed for six years for a catalogue of sex crimes against children committed decades ago after a victim came forward in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

William Brown, 78, preyed on vulnerable boys, grooming them before subjecting them to prolonged abuse.

One victim told a court that it was not until the scandal broke over the paedophile DJ and broadcaster that he decided to go to the police.

He said: “Once it came out about Jimmy Savile I thought the person who abused me is still alive. Why should he get away with it?”

A judge told Brown at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You were found guilty of the most serious sexual offences against four young boys.”

“It was clear that you had groomed these highly vulnerable and troubled boys and proceeded to sexually abuse them for a prolonged period of time,” said the judge.

Brown, formerly of Smithfield, Kintore, in Aberdeenshire, had stood trial after denying the charges.

But he was convicted of five sex crimes, including indecent assault, against four victims between 1968 and 1991. Some of the abuse occurred at his home in Kintore and at a caravan.

Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe said Brown had “a substantial history of physical illness” including angina and he is also registered partially blind.

Mr Crowe said: “He does acknowledge he has done wrong and he wishes to make a public apology to all those affected directly or indirectly by his actions,” he told the court.

Lord Burns told Brown that he would remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.