February 2016 Child rapist jailed for 12 years A man who was convicted of 13 charges including child rape and sexual abuse has been jailed for 12 years. John Foley, 71, from Hurlford, East Ayrshire, carried out a series of sexual and physical attacks on children and two women dating back to 1973. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the offending ended in 1993 and there had been no repetition since. A judge said, however, there was no alternative to custody. Foley was also placed on the sex offenders’ register. Jailing him, judge Lord Kinclaven told Foley: “The court requires to mark the seriousness of the offences.” “You have been found guilty by the verdict of the jury of a catalogue of serious offences.” The court heard that one girl was raped between the age of eight and 11 by Foley at an address in Ayrshire during occasions between 1973 and 1976. Foley also assaulted a different child when she was aged between one and three and grabbed her by the hair and swung her round in the air. He exposed himself to another little girl when she was aged five or six. He also carried out sex acts on a girl from the age of about nine and threatened to kill her mother if she revealed his abuse. Foley also repeatedly struck and punched a boy and hit him with a belt and held his hand in the flame of a lit gas cooker, burning him to his severe injury. He assaulted another girl who was repeatedly punched in the face, grabbed by the hair and kicked and hit with a belt. Another girl was made to undress while he watched and was shown pornographic videos and forced to take part in sex acts. She was also grabbed by the hair and dragged into a bedroom and repeatedly punched and kicked. Foley also attacked two women, both of whom were repeatedly punched and kicked during assaults.