Women abused by an Aberdeen rapist when they were children have described his four-year sentence as a “joke”.
John Barbour was convicted of two charges of indecency and one of rape during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.
The 52-year-old has now been imprisoned for four years – but the women he attacked three decades ago are adamant that justice has not been served.
They had been expecting the predator to be jailed for at least a decade, and were “really upset” when they learned about his punishment.
And the women raised fears that the perceived insignificance of the sentence could deter other victims of historic abuse from coming forward and reliving the trauma of their ordeals.
Barbour began abusing his first victim while he was in his early teens, and targeted a second while still a teenager.
He was convicted of pinning a four-year-old girl against a wall and molesting her and getting her to perform a sex act on him, between December 1978 and December 1979.
He was also found guilty of molesting and raping a second girl from the age of four between August 1984 and December 1986.
A relative of both victims, who supported them through the trial, described their reaction when the sentence was announced.
The relative said: “It was devastating, he stole their childhoods and they wanted a tougher punishment imposed.
“One of the girls didn’t really grasp the concept of life until she became a mum in her 20s, she was a recluse and needed a lot of psychological help.
“It is a life sentence for the victims, and there needs to be a stronger deterrent to dissuade these abusers from offending in the first place.
“Four years is a joke, and I just hope it doesn’t discourage other victims from going through the ordeal of a trial.”
Barbour, who spent decades working with entertainment firm Grampian Leisure supplying fruit machines to bars across the city, continues to maintain his innocence.
After sentencing, procurator fiscal for sexual offences Kenny Donnelly, praised the courage of the women in coming forward.
And he said that Barbour was now “paying the consequences for his actions”.
