Edinburgh Sunday School pervert targeted girls he was babysitting

Dane Murdoch, 72, touched and kissed a six-year-old girl and took indecent photographs of her while he looked after her at a relative’s home.

Murdoch also got into a shower with the terrified youngster and instructed her to look at his penis as she washed.

The sleazy OAP also kissed a second girl, aged just eight at the time, and compelled her to touch his penis while he looked after the pair at the home in Edinburgh.

Murdoch met the girls while they attended the Sunday School sessions at a church in the west of the capital that he volunteered at in 1996.

The trusted church member then became friends with their parents and abused them after agreeing to babysit the pair overnight over the following three years.

Murdoch, from South Queensferry, pleaded guilty to two offences of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards the two girls when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in December.

The pensioner returned to the dock where Sheriff Chris Dickson told him he viewed the offences as “a gross breach of trust” and caged him for 14 months.

Sheriff Dickson also placed Murdoch on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and ordered he be reported to Scottish ministers for inclusion on the list of people unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.

He told Dickson: “These offences were committed in circumstances that can only be described a gross breach of trust.

“You befriended the parents of the children and were able to babysit them and commit the offences.

“Given the seriousness of the offences only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Previously the court was told Murdoch was a member of the Edinburgh church and volunteered to help out at the Sunday school classes which were run each week in an adjoining hall.

The two victims were aged just six and eight when he took an interest in them and he soon befriended the parents of the children.

Murdoch, originally from Aberdeen, was so trusted by the parents he became the pair’s babysitter and took care of the girls at a relative’s home in the Saughton Mains area of the capital.

He bought the youngest girl presents including flowers and ring and got the victims to touch him intimately while they played a game of ‘truth or dare’.

On occasions between 1996 and 1999 he took sordid pictures of the younger girl while, she was partially undressed and also jumped into the shower while she was washing herself.

Murdoch, a retired contracts officer with Edinburgh City Council, also took advantage of the older girl by instructing her to lie on top of him and get her to touch his penis while kissing her.

Yesterday lawyer Matthew Nicholson said his client “fully accepts his involvement in the offences he has pled guilty to” and said he “feels genuine remorse” about the crimes.

Mr Nicholson added Murdoch has “no sexual interest in children in general” and described the attacks as “isolated”.

The brief said Murdoch regularly attended at charity events with a local steam train society where children were in attendance and had given “lots of money away to charities” over the years.

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