December 1996 Sex beast nailed by the Daily Record A care worker who sexually abused helpless boys was jailed for 18 years yesterday – thanks to the Daily Record.  Evil Iain MacDonald, 39, put a boy of 14 through hell for almost a year.  He took photos of himself carrying out sex acts on the naked lad, and made him watch paedophile videos.  And for THREE YEARS he brutalised a handicapped youth who was being cared for at the Glenrothes home where he worked.  The lad, just 18 when his ordeal began, can barely talk. His sight is poor and he can’t move his limbs.  But his mind is unaffected. He knew he was being abused.  MacDonald, of Glenrothes, was trapped when his younger victim bravely came forward – despite death threats from his tormentor – to ask the Daily Record for help.  James – not his real name – told how MacDonald’s sickening abuse had torn his life apart.  We passed his evidence to police, and the beast was arrested.  James, now 15, said last night: “I feel really happy he’ll be locked up for that length of time.  “It would never have happened without the Daily Record. If I hadn’t told you, I doubt I would have told anyone.”  Police praised the Record’s responsible handling of the information James gave us.  MacDonald first abused James in December 1994. The Fife youngster had been playing at a school concert, and his dad was late arriving to pick him up.  James recalled: “MacDonald came up and offered me a lift.  “I said I didn’t know about getting into a stranger’s car, but he said he was a teacher at my school.  “On the way, he stopped the car and seemed to get really violent.  “I was getting really scared, so I said it would be all right if I walked home from there.  “I went to get out but he pulled the door shut, grabbed my wrist and told me he wanted sex.  “I said no, but he said I wouldn’t be going anywhere if I didn’t.  “I started to cry and he started hitting me.”  Biting his lip to stop the tears, James added: “He said I’d better do it or he would kill me.  “I was still really scared and he was still hitting me so I went along with it. After he’d done it, he just sat there. I was still crying.”  James threatened to tell police.  But scheming MacDonald told him HE would be locked up if he complained, because the officers would believe he had wanted sex.  The youngster didn’t get home until 3am. He told his worried stepdad he’d been at a party.  “Iain told me he’d come after me if I told anyone,” James said  “And I felt really dirty. I didn’t want anyone to know anyway.”  The next day, MacDonald appeared as James was about to get the bus home from school, and ordered him into his car.  James refused at first, but MacDonald threatened to tell his teachers what he had been doing.  Terrified of being branded gay, James went with him.  “He took me back to his place in Glenrothes and put on child pornography videos,” he recalled.  MacDonald attacked James regularly. The abuse got worse as the months went by.  James – still fearing for his life – was made to pose for sickening porn photos.  He was left a shadow of the bright, happy boy he had been.  His studies suffered and he started staying off school.  James begged his parents to send him to a different school – without telling them it was a bid to escape MacDonald.  He had to switch schools twice before he felt free.  James contacted the Daily Record in September this year.  He told us: “I want everyone to know what he has done, and to stop him doing it to anyone else.”  We took him to sign a sworn statement about the abuse, and it became a main part of the dossier we handed to police.  Our staff saw MacDonald arrested two days later. He’d been suspended from the home that same day after a separate complaint by a resident.  He was telling a caretaker at his work about his suspension – and pretending to be shocked – as police were arriving at his flat to break down the door.  At the High Court in Glasgow MacDonald, of Raeburn Heights, Glenrothes, admitted abusing James and the handicapped youth.  But he denied the charges until yesterday, leaving James dreading the prospect of going into the witness box.  “I’m really glad I didn’t have to give evidence,” he said later. “It would have been really hard.  “The sentence will give me the chance to get my life together.  “I’m a bit better already, but I’m still angry at him.”  James’s mum added her gratitude to the Record. “We’ll be celebrating tonight,” she said. “Thanks very much.”  MacDonald’s not-guilty pleas to two other charges of abusing residents at the home were accepted.  Branislav Sudjic, defending, admitted there was little he could say in MacDonald’s defence.  He said the pervert knew he’d done “incalculable harm”. His gay partner of 13 years had dumped him, appalled by his crimes.  Temporary judge Alexander Wilkinson QC told MacDonald he had “shamelessly exploited” his victims.  He gave him six years jail for abusing James and 12 for preying on the handicapped young man, and said the sentences should run consecutively.  Stunned MacDonald’s legs almost gave way when he heard the sentence. He had to be helped from the dock by two policemen. VICTIM WAS TRAPPED IN WHEELCHAIR  THE wheelchair-bound young man MacDonald abused is so badly disabled he had no chance of escape.  But he knew what was happening to him. Although his illness means he can’t move his limbs and can hardly see or speak, his mind isn’t affected.  The man was 18 when the abuse began. It didn’t end until he was 21.  He visited the home, Glamis House in Glenrothes, 14 times for a week of respite care. MacDonald abused him each time.  Most attacks took place when the pervert woke him in the morning, but he also attacked him in woods once.  Before starting, MacDonald would say: “I’m going to have fun.”  He threatened to break his neck if he tried to resist and told him he’d be hit very hard if he told anyone.  MacDonald boasted to James about abusing the young man.  James said: “He took me to a birthday party for one of the boys in the home. The boy was in a wheelchair and seemed really scared when Iain was around him.  “When we got outside Iain told me he’d done it to him as well, and that’s why he seemed nervous.”  MacDonald also told James he’d abused other home residents, and other children.  A spokesman for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, who run the home, insisted they never had any reason to suspect MacDonald in the seven years he worked there. He said: “He was very popular, and got on well with the residents.  “Unfortunately, this shows that being nice doesn’t mean you are not capable of abusing trust.”