69 year old jailed for three and a half years

9th March 2009

BBC News reports that a man has been jailed for sexual offences against two sisters over several years. The offences took place between 1971 and 1977. The man sexually abused his two nieces. The abuse began when one was three and the other was six years old. The High Court in Edinburgh awarded a custodial sentence even though the defendant is now in a wheelchair. However his victims said that the sentence was too low.

Arguably the two Claimants might have a claim under English law following the case of A v Hoare [2008] UKHL 6 where a victim of a sexual offender was able to sue her attacker after he won the lottery, even though she was well past the limitation period. However Scottish law may treat such a claim differently. See the case of Bowden (AP) (Appellant) v Poor Sisters of Nazareth (Respondents) and others (Scotland), Whitton (AP) (Appellant) v Poor Sisters of Nazareth (Respondents) and others (Scotland)(Consolidated Appeals) [2008] UKHL 32

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7905539.stm