A north academic who has helped police to catch sexual predators has revealed her own experience of abuse as a child.
Dame Sue Black, who was born and educated in Inverness and graduated from Aberdeen University in 1982, has become renowned in her field as an expert of forensic anthropology.
Her pioneering work has helped to snare suspected sex offenders based on blood vessels on their hands.
Dame Sue has now revealed her own account of abuse in a book written by Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson, saying that it inspired her career.
She said that a friend of her family preyed upon her as a child, but that she pledged never to name the abuser or attempt to bring them to justice to spare their family suffering.
The 57-year-old said: “I have a history of child abuse.
“This was somebody known to the family, as is often the way.
“As a result, you can’t tell your parents because it is somebody who is a friend.”
She referred to the abuse as from “a time past” but vowed not to be “victim”.
Ms Davidson’s book, Yes She Can, is a profile of successful women.
In 2014 Dame Sue helped police in Manchester to arrest a 34-year-old man suspected of filming himself raping a child.
She was able to confirm the suspect’s identity by analysing footage and images of his hands.
When he was thereafter convicted, she received a police commendation for her work.
She left the University of Dundee to become Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University this summer.