Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Angus man who worked at Dundee Michelin blamed girl he preyed on for five years

The High Court in Edinburgh.
The High Court in Edinburgh.

A man who blamed his child victim after he subjected her to prolonged sexual abuse was jailed for five years and three months yesterday.

Anthony Clark, 74, repeatedly preyed on the girl more than three decades ago in Dundee.

The former Michelin tyre factory worker pled guilty to a sustained course of “disgusting sexual abuse” during a five-year period in the 1980s.

Lord Uist said: “Your abuse of her has had a serious and lasting impact over the past 30 years.

“Although you have admitted your guilt and thereby avoided your victim having to give evidence, you have blamed her for what happened. I regard that allegation as deplorable.”

Clark, formerly of Glenclova Terrace, Forfar, earlier admitted two offences of indecent behaviour and indecent assault committed between September 1983 and September 1988.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Uist told Clark if he had been convicted of the crimes after a jury trial he would have jailed him for seven years. “People who sexually abuse children must expect to receive long prison sentences when they are brought to justice, no matter how long that may be after the commission of the offences,” he said.

The court heard the victim originally disclosed the abuse she suffered from Clark in 1989 when she was a teenager.

A children’s charity was contacted and Clark was questioned by police but denied any involvement in the offending.

The victim reported him to police again in 2016.

Advocate depute Peter Ferguson QC said: “She gave a full account of the abuse she had suffered at the hands of the accused.”

Police began a further inquiry and in August last year Clark was interviewed again after declining the services of a lawyer.

Mr Ferguson said: “In the course of that interview the accused made certain detailed admissions of sexual conduct towards the complainer but attempted to suggest that it was all at her instigation.”

Defence counsel Neil Beardmore said Clark was a first offender who now suffers poor health.

Mr Beardmore said Clark has “a tendency of minimise his responsibility and a tendency to blame the victim”.

But the defence counsel added: “He does accept that what he did was wrong.”

Clark was put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.