By Steven Bell

CONVICTIONS FOR “historic” sexual abuse of children are encouraging other victims to report their experiences to police, a leading Dundee campaigner said.

Eighteen and Under co- ordinator Laurie Matthew was speaking after a court heard that a man who subjected three young girls to years of abuse and fathered two children with one of them was facing a lengthy sentence.

Ronald Chalmers, now aged 72, repeatedly raped two of the girls at various addresses in Dundee and Fife between 1976 and 1993, and used lewd and libidinous practices towards another.

He was eventually convicted of the offences by a jury at Edinburgh High Court on Monday after his now-adult victims contacted the police.

“For survivors of historic abuse there is the fear of not being believed and all of the difficulties of the court system,” said Laurie.

“I would like to believe that when people see that offenders are being dealt with it does help give them the courage sooner and the strength for the whole court process.

“The cases that do go to court are the tip of the iceberg—the vast majority of the young people that come to this service don’t go forward to the police for all sorts of reasons.

“They have really got to see the courts backing those that do make it.”

During Monday’s court proceedings Chalmers, who now lives in South Shields, was told by Lady Clark that he had been convicted of “very serious offences.”

He was denied bail, and his defence advocate acknowledged the first offender was expecting a lengthy prison sentence.

Despite that, Laurie said she believed a lot of the sentences being handed down to child abusers were “quite ridiculous”, particularly as they would not serve the whole time.

She said, “Five years for rape or something like that, even less sometimes, is quite disgraceful.

“You have to remember that the sentence for the survivors is life.

“Their whole life is affected by it. They have the loss of their childhood, and it can affect relationships on to the next generation if they have kids.”

Laurie said she believed the length of sentences being handed down in historic cases was often being influenced by the age of the accused.

“In the United States, they have people being handed multiple life sentences, while here you get sentences of five or 10 years and it’s a slap in the face for the survivors who have gone to court,” she continued.

Chalmers had denied a catalogue of sexual abuse allegations but was convicted after a week-long trial in Edinburgh.

The jury found him guilty of repeatedly raping two of the girls and using lewd and libidinous practices towards a third.

A ban on reporting the proceedings was lifted.

Chalmers is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Kilmarnock next month.