A HIGHLAND school worker who sought out jobs which gave him “intimate access” to children was jailed for a year yesterday for grooming teenage girls.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist told William Duffus he had been found guilty of a gross breach of trust.
The 37-year-old, of 50 Mansfield Estate, Tain, was a support worker at two secondary schools in the north and was also an Army Cadet leader when he committed offences, at various locations, involving six girls, whose ages ranged from under 11 to 16.
He had denied the offences, which took place between November 2011 and April this year, but was found guilty following a six-day trial at Tain Sheriff Court in September.
Jailing him yesterday for 12 months, the sheriff said Duffus deliberately secured jobs which put him in a position of trust and authority over children and then “exploited” these positions.
He said the former support worker did so in order to gain “intimate access” to youngsters.
The offences included contacting a girl online and arranging to meet her with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity, and making inappropriate comments to her. He was also found guilty of making inappropriate comments to the same girl and other youngsters online via social networking sites – telling young girls they were pretty and that he loved them – and hugging them.
He was convicted of further charges of lying on a bed with a girl and putting his arm round her and of contacting a girl on a social networking site then approaching her in person several times and trying to touch her hair.
He was also found guilty of verbally abusing his wife Paula when she told him she wanted a divorce.
His defence solicitor Fiona MacDonald told Tain Sheriff Court yesterday that Duffus continued to deny the grooming charges.
Sheriff Gilchrist said he would refer Duffus to Scottish ministers to decide whether he should be named on the list of individuals banned from working with children.
During the trial, the sheriff heard evidence from 30 witnesses, including Duffus, who admitted chatting to the girls online, but insisted he did not behave inappropriately.
Duffus pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to using threatening or abusive behaviour towards his wife, Paula, when she said she wanted to divorce him.
The court heard he lost his temper and began shouting at her and verbally abusing her on August 17. His 18-year-old son, Liam, was given a six-month structured deferred sentence yesterday after admitting that, during the same incident, he displayed threatening or abusive behaviour toward his mother by shouting aggressively, brandishing two knives at her and threatening to cut her with them, then shouted at police officers.
A Highland Council spokeswoman said yesterday that Duffus was no longer employed by the local authority.