August 2017 Pervert sexually abused young cousin more than 2000 times A vulnerable mum has told how her cousin sexually abused her more than 2000 times from when she was just nine years old. Patricia, who has learning difficulties, said she had “no idea” that John Andrew Slater was using her disability to take advantage of her. She wasn’t allowed to leave the house without a relative but Slater started taking her to various locations across Midlothian to sexually assault and abuse her. Patricia, now 51, of Rosewell, said: “He would tell me that he loved me – I was his soul mate and his favourite. “He told me when I was older, we would be together. “I had learning difficulties and didn’t have many friends. I’d been bullied and I was lonely. “I know now that and he used that to his advantage. “I was only allowed out the house with a family member in case I got picked on. My family trusted him. I didn’t know what he was doing was wrong.” Slater forced Patricia to carry out sex acts on him and sexually abused her. She claims he also raped her, although this was never proved. Patricia said that during her seven-year ordeal, Slater targeted her up to four times a week. She added: “I tried to calculate the number of times he abused me and it works out at least 2080 – but that is being generous to him because it was more. “I have emotional, mental and physical scars of the abuse. The physical scars remind me every single day what he did to me.” Slater, now 55 and known as Jock, began abusing Patricia in June 1975. The abuse lasted until 1982, when she bravely confided in her parents – but they kept the crime secret rather than contact the police. Patricia said: “After I told my parents, I wasn’t allowed to go out with him any more. We just kept it hidden in the family. “That’s what people did in those days. I had to face him at family gatherings and I never even told my husband, who I was married to for 13 years. “Slater claims now to have had a heart attack and lost his memory but that’s not true. “A few years ago, I was at a gala day with my mum. He told her he had lost his memory. “But then he came up and whispered in my ear, ‘But I remember what I did to you.’” Slater, of Bonnyrigg, went on to target a second victim, then aged 14, between October 1986 and October 1987 in theEdinburgh area. But in 2015, Patricia finally broke her 40-year silence and revealed the harrowing abuse she had suffered to police. Patricia said: “I told the officer, ‘I was raped and abused as a child.’ “The officer was so supportive of me. He really helped me to explain what happened. “He later told me it was the worst case of abuse he had ever heard of.” Slater – who Patricia says worked as a care assistant for vulnerable young adults – denied the abuse, forcing her to give evidence in court via video link. Following his trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Slater was convicted of sexual assault charges. Earlier this month, he was jailed for two years. Sentencing him, Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC said: “You must have known what you were doing was wrong. “The only sentence I can impose in this case is one of custody.” Slater was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and given a 10-year harassment order preventing him from contacting Patricia, who wrote a heart-rending letter to the court explaining the horror she had endured. She said: “For more than 40 years, I have been having boiling hot baths and scrubbing my skin until it is red raw to try to get him from under my skin. “I’ll never forget what he did to me. It will take a long time for me to heal but I finally feel I have my life back.