A “charismatic” amateur theatre choreographer has been jailed for eight years after subjecting two boys to a catalogue of sexual abuse.
Philip Warke, 63, preyed on the youngsters in Peterhead and on trips to cities in England and Scotland.
Warke molested them and carried out sex acts on them from the age of 13, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
Warke, formerly of Rutland Court, Middlesborough, had denied sexual offences against the children but was convicted of four offences of indecent behaviour and indecent assault against the victims between 1990 and 1994.
Lord Pentland told him: “The victim impact information supplied by your two victims highlights the traumatic and lasting effects of your sexual abuse of them when they were teenage boys.
“It is to their great credit that they found the courage to come forward so that you could, at last, be brought to justice for your crimes.”
The judge said Warke had “something of a charismatic personality” and was able to wield great influence over the youngsters.
He said his offending had shown “a high level of deviousness and calculation” and he had tried to convince his victims they were homosexuals when they were not.
Lord Pentland pointed out that in one incident, Warke administered an unknown substance to one victim to stupefy or overpower him before carrying out a serious sex act.
He said: “You have evinced no remorse for your crimes.”
The judge told Warke he would be on the sex offenders register for the remainder of his life and added: “You will never again be permitted to work with children or other vulnerable persons.”
Advocate depute Jane Farquharson QC earlier told the jury at Warke’s trial that the victims did not give consent to a consensual sexual relationship and added: “He forced himself upon them for his sole sexual gratification.
“They saw him as charismatic. He was a man who could sing and dance.”
One victim, now aged 42, told the court he came from a small village in the north-east of Scotland and found Warke, who was involved in amateur dramatics, to be “intimidating”.
He said: “He conducted himself in such a way that people were intimidated by him. They would do whatever he wanted them to do.”
He met Warke through “an audition” for a theatrical production of a musical.
Defence counsel Niall McCluskey said Warke has significant health problems and was assessed as posing a low risk of further offending.
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