Moffat children's home paedophile faces lengthy jail term

A man who subjected children to "unspeakable" cruelty has been told to expect a lengthy jail sentence.

A judge told Peter Harley, 77, "You are a thoroughly wicked individual" after he preyed on vulnerable boys at a now closed home in Moffat, Dumfriesshire.

Harley had already been jailed for 15 years in 1996 after admitting sexually abusing 16 boys at Merkland Childrens Home which he ran for several years.

He was later imprisoned for another six years for further offences.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Michael O'Grady QC said: "It is to state the obvious perhaps, but you were in a position of the greatest trust."

The judge said he had taken advantage of this trust in the most callous fashion to abuse two children he knew to be defenceless and vulnerable, and said he had led "a virtual lifetime of depravity preying on vulnerable children".

Mr O'Grady deferred sentence on Harley for the preparation of a report but told him he faced "a significant sentence of imprisonment".

Harley, from Cardiff, had denied a series of offences during his latest trial, but was found guilty of two charges of indecent conduct towards two boys and the indecent assault of one of the victims. The abuse took place at the Merkland home between 1977 and 1982.

One boy was aged 12 when he became a target for the predatory officer in charge of the institution and the other was aged 11.

One of the victims said: "He was the manager. He was the boss. All the boys called him 'Pop'. They used to call him 'Pops Harley'."

He told the court: "Initially I thought he was a nice bloke, but that changed."

The victim, now aged 56, described how he later ran away from the institution and told the court: "I was going to tell my social worker what he was doing to me and everyone else."

He said he had started cycling towards Dumfries but Harley chased after him in a car and ran him off the road before taking him back to the children's home and "leathering" him.

Harley was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.