A morbidly obese Moray sex offender has died behind bars after being jailed for preying on girls as young as four.
Stanley Sandison died at HMP Glenochil, in Alloa, on Saturday at the age of 69.
It is understood that he died of natural causes, just 15 months into his seven-year sentence.
The Lossiemouth man was convicted of raping two children and sexually assaulting another three at addresses in Moray during the 1960s and 70s.
But his victims claim that he targeted other youngsters during that spell, and are frustrated that he died before they too were able to get justice.
One woman, who gave evidence against Sandison last year, said the 24-stone sex offender “got what he deserved”.
She added: “I thought more children would have come forward, I honestly don’t believe he faced justice for all of the abuse he carried out.
“This is absolutely what he deserves, after everything he did, but there will never really be closure for his victims.
“When he got the seven-year sentence I hoped he would serve all of it, then die on the day of his release.”
The brother of another victim said Sandison had “escaped justice”.
He added: “We feel that to serve so little of what he should have means we have not got justice.
“There isn’t any sadness for him, he never showed any compassion to his victims so they don’t feel bad for him.”
A special sitting of the High Court had to be arranged in Elgin last July, because Sandison claimed he was too overweight to travel any further afield.
The pensioner remained in a wheelchair throughout the trial.
A jury took just an hour to decide that he was guilty of six charges.
But his lawyer pleaded with Judge Lord Turbull to spare Sandison prison because of the level of care he said he would require.
The judge was not swayed though, saying Sandison had “shown no hint of remorse” for his conduct.
Yesterday, his victims said Sandison played on his obesity in an attempt to avoid punishment.
One said: “We don’t believe there was anything wrong with him apart from his weight and a sore leg.
“They made out he was in a worse way than he was, so that he wouldn’t go to prison.”
The woman added that she hoped Sandison’s conviction would spur other victims of historic sex crimes to report their abusers to the police.
She said: “Anybody who has gone through something like this should come forward.
“Nobody should suffer in silence, like I did for years.
“It can make you ill with depression and all sorts of things, all down to what happened years ago. ”
Sandison’s earliest recorded offence took place in 1964.
Between that time and the early 1970s he conducted a campaign of sexual abuse against one victim who was then aged between four and 12.
The former distillery worker preyed on another child at several addresses between the late 1960s and mid-1970s while she was between the ages of four and 10.
A third victim said she was raped “about 10 to 12” times by Sandison in the 1970s – when she was as young as nine.
He targeted another girl between the ages of seven and 11 during that timeframe.
A police spokeswoman said the force was probing Sandison’s death.
She said: “Officers in Forth Valley are investigating following the death of a 69-year-old man at HMP Glenochil on Saturday.
“There are no suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”