FORMER TV weatherman Fred Talbot has been jailed for four years for a string of sex offences against schoolboys on trips to Scotland more than three decades ago.
The 67-year-old indecently assaulted seven teenage boys in his care during camping and boating trips in the 1970s and 1980s while working as a biology teacher at a school in the Manchester area.
He is already serving a five-year sentence imposed in Manchester in 2015 for indecently assaulting two other schoolboys.
During a nine-day trial at Lanark Sheriff Court last month, Talbot denied the allegations.
But a jury took four hours to convict him of seven of the nine historical abuse charges against him.
The four-year sentence is due to start from August, at the end of the punishment part of his current jail term.
The television personality stood and nodded as Sheriff Nikola Stewart delivered her sentence yesterday afternoon.
She said he “grossly abused the trust” placed in him as a teacher with “systematic” abuse of schoolboys.
“It is beyond doubt these trips were organised with sexual exploitation of these boys very much in mind,” Sheriff Stewart said.
“By denying your guilt and insisting on a trial, you put each victim through further trauma.”
The offences took place during separate trips near the St Mary’s Loch area in Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Caledonian Canal, near Inverness in the Highlands.
Talbot was cleared of two charges — of indecent assault and lewd, indecent and libidinous practices — on not proven verdicts.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here