A FORMER foster father living in King Edward has been jailed for 12 years for raping two girls and abusing other children. All the offences took place more than 10 years ago.

A High Court judge told Leslie Hanson: “You have been convicted of a horrifying catalogue of sexual crimes against five young females. All of your victims were under the age of 16 years at the time when the offences were committed.”

Hanson (65), Milltack, King Edward, formerly of Drummuir, near Keith, raped two victims when they were aged 11 and 15, and molested three other under-age children.

Lord Woolman told him at the High Court in Edinburgh last Wednesday: “It is plain that you embarked on a campaign of sexual offences.” The judge said he took into account that Hanson appeared before him with a clean record and that he was now an elderly man, and the offences occurred some time ago.

But Lord Woolman said: “It is my duty to mark the gravity of the offences and to emphasise the public abhorrence of this conduct.” He told the sex offender that he also had to reflect “the damage to the victims” who had given evidence at Hanson’s earlier trial.

Hanson committed his catalogue of sex crimes against child victims at addresses in the Keith and Drummuir areas between 1990 and 1998. He had earlier denied a string of charges, but a jury took less than two hours to convict him of two offences of rape and four of lewd and indecent behaviour.

Lord Woolman said that his sentence “must serve as a warning and deterrent to others, and it must protect the public”.

Defence counsel David Moggach said that Hanson maintained he was innocent of the charges. He said Hanson, now divorced, had worked as a printer in England before moving to the north of Scotland, where he and his wife became foster parents. Mr Moggach said the couple had cared for 30 to 40 children in that role.

He pointed out that several had come to court to give evidence for him, and spoke highly of him as a foster parent. The solicitor added that Hanson was now retired and did not keep good health.

He added: “He is quite a frail 65-year-old. He assures me there is no possibility of his re-offending whatsoever.”

Hanson supplied alcohol to one of his under-age victims and rubbed dog food on another girl during the abuse.

The rapist and child abuser has been placed on the sex offenders’ register.