A sex offender who preyed on young boys more than three decades ago was today jailed for three years and nine months after his historical crimes caught up with him.
Christopher Duncan indecently assaulted one youngster at a primary school in Aberdeen and at a scrapyard during a campaign of abuse that spanned a decade.
Duncan, now aged 57, committed five sex crimes against children when he was aged between 12 and 23 from 1976 to 1986 in the city.
A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh that it was plain from a victim impact statement prepared by one of the victims that he “remains severely traumatised by your abuse of him”.
Lord Burns said: “The abuse is serious abuse but I take account …of your age at the time and the years that have passed since the abuse.”
He said: “It is perfectly clear to me that this course of conduct took place at an early stage of your life.”
Lord Burns said Duncan had refrained from further offending in the intervening years and held down a job for more than 35 years.
‘He is not a risk to the public’
The judge told him that in the circumstances he could deal with him more leniently than he would otherwise have done.
But Lord Burns added: “Although you are a first offender I consider a custodial sentence is inevitable here because of the serious nature of this offending and the fact you persisted in that until you were 23.”
The judge told Duncan, formerly of Great Northern Road, Aberdeen, that he would remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely following the sentencing hearing.
Duncan had earlier stood trial at the High Court in Aberdeen last year when he denied a series of charges, but he was found guilty of three charges of indecently assaulting two boys when they were aged 13 and 14 and a further two offences of indecent conduct.
All the offending took place at houses and other locations in Aberdeen.
Defence counsel David Moggach said: “There has been no offending in the last 36 years and he has been a law-abiding citizen throughout that period.”
“Given that he has not offended in the last 36 years and this all relates to when he was a young man, he is not a risk to the public,” he told the court.
The jail sentence was backdated to December 13 when Duncan was taken into custody. Duncan followed the sentencing proceedings via a TV link to prison.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen, as well as the latest crime and breaking incidents, join our new Facebook group HERE.
