Former headmaster jailed for sexual abuse in Aberdeen and Thailand

Arthur Hutchinson will face supervision after his release

A former headmaster who admitted subjecting a girl to a catalogue of sexual abuse in Aberdeen and Asia has been jailed for nine years.

Arthur Hutchinson, 74, began targeting the victim when she was aged eight in Thailand, and continued when she moved to Scotland to pursue higher education.

She did not resist as she was afraid he would withdraw financial support from her family and stop her education.

After release, he will face a further three years period of supervision.

The court heard that the victim revealed that she had been sexually abused to a counsellor.

• Former headmaster admits catalogue of sexual abuse

After arresting Hutchinson, police seized a laptop which contained videos and images of the victim.

He admitted five charges.

'Little or no empathy'

Hutchinson was a school teacher for more than 40 years, and latterly was employed as the headmaster of a secondary school in West Yorkshire before retiring in 2008.

The first offender went abroad to live two years later and settled in Thailand where he began abusing the child.

Hutchinson admitted the offences at the High Court in Edinburgh

Lord Fairley, at the High Court in Edinburgh, said: "Your offending involved a sustained course of conduct against your victim over a period of nine years."

The judge said that the crimes had involved "a high degree of coercion and control".

He said a background report prepared on the offender showed that he demonstrated "little or no empathy or understanding of the effect of you long term abuse".

'Shameful, disgraceful and abhorrent'

Lord Fairley told him that had he been convicted after a trial he would have faced a 16-year sentence, including 13 years imprisonment.

But the judge said that following his earlier guilty pleas he would sentence Hutchinson to nine years in custody with a further three years period of supervision.

Defence counsel Graham Robertson said Hutchinson now realised that there was a high probability that he would end his life in prison for offences that were "shameful, disgraceful and abhorrent".

He said: "My understanding is that he in unable to explain in any rational or articulate way why he behaved in the way he did."

Hutchinson, who followed the proceedings by video link from Grampian Prison, was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Det Insp Karen Main of Police Scotland said it was a "particularly harrowing" case of sexual abuse.