November 2013 Taxi driver who sexually abused child for 11 years is jailed A taxi driver who sexually abused a young girl for 11 years has been jailed for five years. At the High Court in Glasgow 48-year-old Paul McCallum, from Blantyre, Lanarkshire, was convicted of sexually abusing the girl from the age of five. McCallum also attempted to rape the girl when she was aged between nine and 16. The offences were committed at an address in Larkhall between January 1994 and March 2006. He was also found guilty of sexually abusing her sister on one occasion when she was aged between eight and nine. This offence also took place at a house in Larkhall between February 2003 and February 2004. Sentencing McCallum, judge Alastair Stewart QC, told him: “A jury has found you guilty of a number of offences, including the serious offence of attempted rape. It is the duty of the courts to protect young girls.” As McCallum was led away to begin his sentence members of the sisters’ family shouted: “You’re a beast,” at him. Outside court the sisters’ mother said: “Five years is a joke, my weans have got a life sentence because of what he put them through. We are totally devastated, five years is not enough.” The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: “He may have abused other children and I would urge anyone who was abused by him to come forward and contact the police.” During the trial his first victim, who is now 25, told prosecutor Allan Nicol that she was regularly abused by McCallum. She said that she was too afraid to tell anyone what he had done to her. It was only when she became an adult that she was able to speak up about the abuse. The jury heard that McCallum’s abuse began by making the girl touch him intimately when she was just five, and his conduct escalated as she got older. By the time she was nine he was regularly attempting to rape her. The abuse came to light when McCallum’s second victim , who is now 18, told their mother what had happened to her during a row. She told her mother: “You don’t know the half of it.” When pressed to explain what she meant she blurted out that McCallum had sexually abused her. The police were called in and McCallum was charged. In evidence McCallum said: “It isn’t true. They are telling lies. It never happened.” However, he could give no explanation for why the sisters would make up allegations against him. The court heard that McCallum has a previous conviction from 1983 for underage sex. Defence QC Derek Ogg said that McCallum continues to maintain his innocence. McCallum was placed on the sex offenders register.