Former children’s panel chairman jailed for sexual abuse

The former head of Glasgow’s Children’s Panel has been jailed for 12 years over six counts of sexual abuse involving children in his care.

Daniel Ross, 62, abused two boys and a young man over three decades in what Judge Lord Matthews descibed as ‘very grave offences’.

Ross began his abuse in the 1970s when he sexually assaulted his first victim at a gay club. In the 1980s, he abused a 13 year old at various locations around Glasgow and a third victim was abused from the age of 14 in the 1990s.

At the High Court in Glasgow, placing Ross on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period, the Judge said: “It was your position which gave you access to the young vulnerable boys and who were entitled to look to you to make important decisions for their welfare.

“Decisions which should have enabled them to make the most of the poor start they had been given in life.

“Instead you grossly abused your position of trust and made decisions for your own benefit.”

The court heard how Ross used his senior position at the Children’s Panel to carry out his abuse at their offices in the city’s Albion Street.

The jury heard from each of the three witnessess recalling details of the abuse with the earliest victim, now 55, commenting Ross was ‘evil – evil in every way.’

A second victim, now aged 38, recalled how Ross abused him for the first time before a Children’s Panel hearing in Albion Street, Glasgow.

Ross continued to molest the boy telling him he would deny what had happened ‘because of his position’.

The third victim, John Stewart, told the court he was also abused through Children’s Panel contact and was 13 when the attacks began.

Mr Stewart, who waived his right to anonymity, told STV News: ““He abused me over a period of three years. It was so bad that on one occasion – the only time he sodomised me – that my mother had to take me to hospital because of the pain in my stomach.

“My appendix was removed because I couldn’t tell the doctors why I was in so much pain.”

The abuse ended in 1989, but it took until 2001 for Mr Stewart to build up the courage to go to the police.

Brian McConnachie QC, defending, said: “Mr Ross maintains his innocence in relation to these matters.”