A “manipulative, predatory paedophile” groomed two young schoolgirls for years before raping and sexually abusing them when they turned 12-years-old, a court heard.
Harry Canning acted as if he was a generous grandfather, taking the youngsters to circuses and car boot sales and showering them with lavish gifts such as mobile phones.
He had a trampoline and a pond in his garden and games consoles and computers in his living room to attract local children to his home in Leven, Fife, a jury was told.
One of the girls, now aged 22, told his trial: “It was like going to your grandad’s.
“I always felt able to speak to him and I felt safe.”
However, the High Court in Livingston heard the sleazy pervert’s real aim was to win the trust of two “vulnerable and confused” young girls from troubled families so he could induce them to have under-age sex sessions with him.
The 80-year-old now faces spending the rest of his life in prison after a jury returned unanimous verdicts finding him guilty of seven serious sexual offences against two girls when they were aged between 10 and 17.
Abuse began when girls were 10
It emerged after his conviction for multiple rapes that he was nearing the end of a three-year prison sentence imposed in 2019 for similar offences.
The girls said he began sexually abusing them when they were just 10-years-old after they got dirty playing in his garden pond.
They said he ran a bath for them and – when they were naked in the water – he made lewd comments about their bodies and fondled their breasts.
Both girls said he went on to pay them for a variety of sexual acts, including baring their breasts in front of a video camera linked to an online site.
One girl said the sexual abuse escalated to Canning having sex with her and the other youngster when they were 15-years-old.
She said: “He put the couch bed out and he bought alcohol, a Chinese takeaway, and gave us cannabis – then it all happened that night.
“I didn’t want to do any of these sexual acts to him but I done it anyway.
“We would just do it to keep him happy.”
£300 birthday gift
One girl said she did not want to do it but agreed because she “felt bad because he’d bought things for her”.
One of the girls gave evidence that he gave her £300 for her 13th birthday and bought her mobile phones so he could engage in “non-stop texting” of a sexual nature.
She said: “It was disgusting and horrible. It made me feel sick.”
She said she was living in fear of “Rangers daft” Canning hurting her because he kept telling her how the UVF and the UDA would blow people’s kneecaps off in Northern Ireland.
She said: “I was frightened, fearful, just scared because I didn’t want to die.
“It was obviously a threat to keep my mouth closed about all the things that were going on.”
Canning’s evidence
Giving evidence in his own defence, Canning admitted having sex with both young girls, but only after they had turned 14 and were no longer legally defined as children.
Of the younger girl he said: “I never got it for free.
“I had to pay her for it. Sometimes it was a tenner, sometimes it was a fiver.
“It depends what change I had in my wallet.
“She consented all the time because she asked for money for sex.
“I still feel sick even now thinking about it. I didn’t think about it at the time.”
Talking about the other complainer he said: “I didn’t even want to do it as such.
“She just offered me and I said OK.”
“Sustained and systematic grooming”
In his closing speech, advocate depute Mark Mohammed said Canning was guilty of “sustained and systematic grooming” of the girls over a period of years.
He told the jury: “They were manipulated and exploited by the accused from a young age and conditioned into viewing sex with him as a normal thing.
“It wasn’t consensual. It was rape.”
The jury took just 90 minutes to return unanimous verdicts finding Canning guilty.
He was nearing the end of a three-year sentence imposed in May 2019 for two counts of grooming young girls and having sex with older children between 2016 and 2018.
He pled guilty in that case to giving the vulnerable girls, who were aged between 14 and 15 at the time, cigarettes and money in exchange for sex.
The OAP also had a previous conviction for growing and possessing the class ‘B’ drug cannabis.
Lord Weir called for a criminal justice social work report before sentence and remanded Canning in custody meantime.
