West Lothian paedophile raped girl as her deaf mother slept

A paedophile has been convicted of repeatedly raping two under-age sisters more than 40 years ago.

Let us know what you think and join the conversation at the bottom of this article.

Robert Khan, 61, had denied sexually abusing one of the girls from the age of seven before moving on to rape her sister from the age of nine.

The pervert, from Whitburn, West Lothian, was between 14 and 21 years-old himself when he struck.

Behind bars for sickening crimes: Robert Khan

One of his victims, now aged 54, told the High Court at Livingston that Khan would visit their family home at weekends after drinking.

She said he started the abuse by sneaking into her bed at night and groping her before going on to have full sex with her.

READ MORE: Army veteran who raped West Lothian schoolgirl claims victim failed to spot his intimate tattoo

The evidence of the second complainer, now 53-years-old and suffering from psychiatric problems, was read to jurors from statements she gave to police.

She claimed Khan abused her on a mattress in her mum’s bedroom while her mother, who was deaf, slept.

The victim said the abuse, which started when she was nine years-old, finally stopped when she turned 12.

She told her mother what Khan was doing to her but she wasn’t believed "because Rab was the blue-eyed boy”.

The jury heard she first reported Khan’s sexual abuse to the police 25 years ago. He was arrested but released almost immediately because of a lack of corroboration.

Eventually she and her sister shared their experiences and again reported Khan to the police in 2019.

He was arrested for a second time and accused of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices to the older child at addresses in Whitburn between 1973 and 1976.

He was also charged with four counts of raping the two girls, two while they were under 12 and two when they were aged between 12 and 16.

A jury rejected Khan’s claims in court that the girls’ allegations were “total lies” and that someone else must have abused them.

They also ignored his complaints that his marriage had ended and he could no longer take his grandchild for a walk as a result of the court case.

The jury took just over four and a half hours to return majority verdicts finding Khan guilty of all five charges.

Advocate depute John Keenan moved for sentence and revealed that Khan had previously served a short period in custody for assault, resisting arrest and breach of the peace but added that he had no previous convictions of a sexual nature.

Judge Lord Beckett told Khan he could technically sentence him immediately because he had served a custodial sentence in the past, but that was not appropriate given that the previous prison term had been imposed 40 years ago for a radically different type of offence.

Sentence was deferred to next month and Khan was remanded in custody.

Adding Khan’s name to the Sex Offenders’ Register, the judge told him: “In the meantime you will be remanded in custody. You no longer enjoy the presumption of innocence and a prison sentence is highly likely indeed.”

He also ordered the clerk of court to inform Scottish Ministers of the sexual convictions so his name could be added to the list of people deemed unsuitable to work with children.

Khan showed no emotion as he was led to the cells.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.