A man is on trial for allegedly sexually abusing a mother and her daughters

Murray is currently on trial at the High Court in Livingston

Iain Murray (62) is accused of raping the mother in 2001 when she was aged 14 and raping her older daughter between 2016 and 2017 when she turned 12 years-old.

A jury at the High Court in Livingston today heard the alleged abuse came to light after the mum read a comment in her daughter’s diary saying he was a “paedo” and that she wished she was dead.

Murray is alleged to have committed the offences against the mum at an address in Denny, Falkirk, and to have abused her daughters at his two bedroom flat in Bannockburn.

He is charged with two counts of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards the mum of three from 1997 onwards when she was aged between 10 and 17, including touching her breasts and private parts and masturbating in front of her.

The charge states he exposed himself to her, pulled down her top and looked at her breasts and made sexual remarks to her when she was a teenager.

He is also charged with sexually assaulting the woman’s older daughter by touching her indecently and making sexual remarks to her at his home in Randolph Crescent, Bannockburn, and at an address in Slamannan between September 2011 and April 2017 and raping her on an occasion between Boxing Day 2016 and April 17, 2017.

He is further accused of sexually assaulting her younger sister between October 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017 when she was aged seven or eight by intentionally exposing his genitals in a sexual manner with the intention that she would see them, and touching her private parts over her clothing.

Murray denies all the charges.

The jury heard the older girl said her mum was obviously aware what she’d written in her diary that Murray “was a paedo”.

She said: “I wrote that I feel bad for grassing on him. I wrote into my diary that I wish I was dead, and that I was going to kill myself.”

She said her mum told her she had to tell her the truth about what he had done.

“I said he’d touched me. I told her he’d handled me. Then she was just crying and all upset.”

The jury was played a video interview in which the youngster, now 13, said he had abused her between 20 and 30 times, maybe more.

She said it first happened when she was aged between seven and nine and continued for several years.

She recounted how Murray would massage her before abusing her and tell her she was a big girl, that she had “big boobs”.

She added: “I have dreams about it like he could rape me or something like that.”

Giving evidence in court, her 30-year-old mum told how she spoke to police after she found the diary in her daughter’s room in April 2017.

She said: “He’d obviously been doing things to her, sexually abusing her. I had a mixture of emotions. Angry. Wanted to go and get him. It made my head all over the place.

“I was surprised because I didn’t think he would touch my children because of the good relationship he’d had with them.

“But I knew it wasn’t a lie. He sexually abused me as well.”

She said she confronted Murray and tried to get his version of the story.

She told the jury: “His exact words were: ‘I am totally denying that.’ He said that my daughter was lying and he was absolutely adamant that he’d done nothing wrong.”

She said she waited until the next morning and contacted Murray’s ex-wife who contacted the police.

The mum said her own mother had reported Murray to the police in 2003 to report him for sexually abusing her just after her 10th birthday.

Speaking through tears she said: “I’d told her years before but I learned to live with it. I find it difficult to understand.”

The trial, before Lord Burns, continues.