Jail for Scottish Scout leader who fondled boys

By GERALDINE MCKELVIE
Published on 26/10/2012 00:00

A FORMER Scout leader was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison for fondling two young boys as they slept at camps.

James Sinclair targeted his victims on two separate trips – one to remote Tannadice, near Forfar, Angus, and another to a camp near Fort William, Inverness-shire, in the early 1990s.

The 48-year-old was been placed on the sex offenders register and banned from the Scouts for life at Forfar Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Kevin Veal said: “The gravity of this offence is immediately apparent. The accused’s behaviour, targeted at two young children, was totally unacceptable and is repugnant to all right thinking people.

“Matters are aggravated by the fact the accused was a scout leader, who was clearly trusted by both the children concerned and by their parents, who permitted the children to be with him at Scout camps.

“I am firmly of the opinion that the gravity of these offences is such that the only possible disposal must be a sentence of immediate imprisonment.”

Sheriff Veal said he would have imposed a longer term, but he was not permitted to do so as the offences were historic.