Serial child abuser raped girl he strapped to radiator

A serial child abuser who tied a girl to a radiator and raped her has been jailed for nine years.
Michael BuchananMichael Buchanan
Michael Buchanan

Michael Buchanan, 46, was first reported to police as a predator more then two decades ago but remained at large.

The child victim who initially revealed his actions never lived to see him being brought to justice as she committed suicide in 1998 while Buchanan went on to commit further crimes.

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A judge told Buchanan: “You pled guilty to 16 charges involving 13 victims, 12 of them children, spanning a period of 21 years.”

Lord Boyd of Duncansby pointed out that the child victims of his crimes were aged between four and five and 14 and that the most serious offences were the rapes of girls aged six and 13.

The judge said at the High Court in Edinburgh: “I take into account that the first three charges were committed when you yourself were a child.”

Lord Boyd said a background report on Buchanan had assessed him as a high risk of re-offending, but added that was tempered by his offending coming to an end 14 years ago.

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The judge ordered that Buchanan, formerly of Murrayburn Place, should be kept under supervision for a further five years.

Buchanan was aged 12 when he targeted his first victim whom he abused from the age of six until he was nine, molesting the boy at addresses in Wester Hailes. The victim did not tell anyone at the time what was happening to him.

He later invited a nine-year-old girl back to his family home about 1990 or 1991 to visit his mother but attacked her.

She was scared and did not tell anyone at the time but after revealing what had happened to a friend when she was about 12 she was encouraged to contact the police.

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She gave a statement and Buchanan was detained in 1993 and interviewed but no action was taken at the time. She committed suicide in 1998.

Buchanan subjected another youngster to a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse and raped her on two occasions when she was aged 13.

The sex offender was looking after a six-year-old girl and her sister about 2002 when he raped her at a house in Edinburgh. The terrified victim managed to escape from her attacker and found her sister and fled before contacting social services.

But when she was interviewed by police she did not speak to the initial allegations she made.

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In 2014 a male victim of Buchanan went to a police station to report that he had been abused by him. A search of a database revealed previous complaints and steps were taken to trace others.

Defence counsel Matt Jackson said Buchanan had spoken about “what he calls his inner monster” –the person he felt was responsible. “He recognises he has sexual impulses which are abhorrent and disgusting to right-minded people,” said the defence counsel.

Buchanan was placed on the sex offenders’ register.