Airdrie man jailed for indecent assaults on four girls

AIRDRIE MAN JAILED FOR INDECENT ASSAULTS ON FOUR GIRLS

A MAN who indecently assaulted four girls, one of whom was just two when the abuse started, has been jailed for four years.

Ralph Bryce, 67, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, had previously been found guilty of five out of six charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour.

The offences happened at a house in the town, in his car, and on trips to the swimming baths between 1963 and 1982.

Bryce, who was this year's president and a past captain of Airdrie Golf Club, showed no emotion at the town's sheriff court as he was jailed, but his wife Ann, 64, and his four victims were in tears.

Sheriff Petra Collins told him the girls had "to suffer the emotional consequences of that abuse throughout their lives".

Bryce, a retired loads inspector with Freightliner, hid his sordid past, but an anonymous letter to his son, who was in the process of adopting a three-year-old girl, sparked a social work and police investigation.

Bryce, who has been forced to flee his home in Hunter Street, Airdrie, has been banned by social workers from going near the adopted child.

He has also been put on the Sex Offenders' Register.

Speaking outside court, one of his victims said: "We are glad this is all over.

Justice was done when he was convicted.

To be honest, I feel sorry for him - he is going to be a hated, lonely old man."