July 2012 Pensioner Robert Livingstone jailed for raping girls A 73-year-old man who admitted raping two young girls more than 30 years ago has been jailed for nine years. Robert Livingstone carried out the attacks in the mid to late 1970s while living in Glasgow’s west-end. The High Court in Glasgow heard that the youngest girl was about eight when she was first attacked. Livingstone was caught after she revealed her ordeal while studying for a course in 2008 that looked at issues such as childhood sexual abuse. Death threats The court heard how Livingstone told his youngest victim not no tell anyone after he first abused her and he threatened to hit her. The sex attacks continued for a number of years and Livingstone also threatening to kill the child if she told anyone. The court heard that in 2008 she started a course that covered issues such as childhood sexual abuse. Prosecutor Tim Niven Smith said: “When discussion took place surrounding this topic, the complainer disclosed to friends that she had been the subject of sexual abuse.” The woman then contacted police who launched an investigation into Livingstone’s past. This revealed another girl had gone through a similar ordeal. Livingstone told officers that he recalled suffering “blackouts” around the time of the offences and that “anything was possible”. The court heard both victims required counselling as a result of what happened to them. Temporary judge Kenneth MacIver told Livingstone his jail-term would have been 11 years but for his guilty pleas to two counts of rape. He said: “You subjected them to systematic rape – it was regular, frequent and repeatedly perpetrated against them with a callous disregard. “The anguish and horror of that ordeal is indescribable. It has left them sadly marked in what has been made clear in the very poignant victim impact statements.”