A “predatory” Highland man who had sex with a vulnerable 14-year-old was behind bars yesterday.
Angus Francis, of Ross Place in Fort William, had sex with the girl at various locations in Oban in 2012 and 2013 when she was 14 and 15, and he was 22.
Now 27, he was found guilty by a majority verdict of the jury yesterday following a four day trial at Oban Sheriff Court.
Francis was remanded in custody until his sentencing on October 5 and his name was placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Sheriff William Gallacher said: “Given the persistent nature of your predatory and selfish approach, I cannot visualise anything other than a custodial sentence.”
The 19-year-old woman told the court that she met Francis in a pub in Oban when she was 14.
She said: “When I was 14 I was going through a really hard time. I was being bullied in school. I didn’t have many friends my own age. I had two older friends.”
The girl had been drinking with her older friends, aged 20 and 21, when she decided to sneak into the Lorne Bar, where she met Francis.
But she was quickly spotted and asked to leave for being underage, she said.
She went to a house with Francis and her friends where they drank and smoked cannabis.
They kept in touch by text message and she met him a few weeks later and they had sex.
She said: “He told me I couldn’t tell anybody because it was our secret. He could get into trouble.
“I knew it was wrong. I felt really dirty, but he made me feel like I was wanted, that somebody on this planet wanted me.”
Francis had claimed in court that they only had sex once, when she was 14, claiming she had lied and told him she was 16. He said they resumed a relationship after she turned 16.
But she said: “He knew I was 14 years old. He knew fine well how young I was.
“He knew what year I was in at school. When I first met him I told him I was 14.”
She added: “Last year I came to the realisation that it was not right. I was a very vulnerable person and he saw that and took advantage of that.”
