Bus driver drugged and abused children

Published on Thursday 6 December 2007 00:55

A SCHOOL bus driver who drugged and sexually abused children over a period of six years was jailed for five years yesterday.

David Dunn, 40, was found guilty of forcing children to swallow tranquillisers and Buckfast tonic wine before he abused them.

Yesterday, at Perth Sheriff Court he was banned from having any contact with a child under the age of 17 unless he is supervised by a social worker.

He is also prohibited from going anywhere children are likely to gather, such as a leisure centre, without permission from a police commander.

Earlier, the court had heard how Dunn used a funnel to make the children - some as young as nine - eat crushed-up temazepam tablets.

The driver, who spent seven years working on school runs, abused five boys and girls aged between nine and 14.

The married father of two made one girl take so many drugs and drink so much that she was knocked unconscious and had no idea what he was doing. Dunn, now of Blackburn, West Lothian, then stripped the girl naked and made her sit on his naked body.

One victim, who was nine and is now 24, told the court how Dunn rolled up a sheet of paper into a funnel and then poured crushed-up tranquillisers down his throat.

He said: "He would give me sweets and ice-cream. He just told me to help myself. He gave us Buckfast. It made me feel dizzy.

"He would have a bit of paper rolled like a funnel. He used to say, 'Just take it, it's good'. I didn't want to."

He was found guilty of sexually abusing boys of ten and 13, as well as a 12-year-old girl in Blairgowrie and Coupar Angus between 1992 and 1998.

He was also found guilty of drugging two other boys, aged nine and 14, until they lost consciousness.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher placed Dunn on the sex offenders register for life, and said: "I regard this as an extremely serious matter, even though the offences took place some years ago."

The female victim, who cannot be named, said: "They should lock him up and throw away the key."