A CUMNOCK man is facing a lengthy jail sentence after being found guilty of a horrific series of offences against two teenage victims – including abduction and rape.
Scott Faulkner committed the sickening offences over a period of more than 10 years at locations in Cumnock, Stevenston, Ayr, Auchinleck and elsewhere.
The 34-year-old was found guilty on six separate charges by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh last week.
Faulkner, who was described in court papers as a resident of Hearth Road, Cumnock, is now behind bars awaiting sentence.
He committed the offences between June 2011 and December 2021.
Faulkner won a prize as ‘up-and-coming youngster’ at a national radio station’s Ayrshire community awards ceremony in 2013.
On various occasions between June 1, 2011 and November 30, 2016, Faulkner, who was aged between 22 and 28 at the time, abducted a boy aged between 13 and 18, restrained him using handcuffs, tied his legs to the frame of a bed with rope, blindfolded him and covered his face with a pillow.
He then went on to make sexual remarks towards his victim, undressed him, touched his genitalia and took pictures of him – and threatened to expose the pictures if the teen failed to comply.
Faulkner then performed sex acts on his victim and made the victim do the same to him, as well as engaging in sexual activity with another male while the victim was present.
He made his victim get undressed in front of the second man and forced him to engage in sexual activity with the second man, and then raped the teen.
The offences took place across Ayrshire – including at an abandoned building on Barony Road, Auchinleck, a car park near Dumfries House, an abandoned building near the Morrisons supermarket in Stevenston, an address in Ayr, a wooded area in Galston and at Faulkner’s home address in Cumnock, as well as at an abandoned building in Kirkcaldy and in a vehicle en route to these locations.
The jury also found Faulkner guilty of directing sexual verbal and written communications at the same victim at addresses in Cumnock, Mauchline, Kilmarnock and elsewhere between January 1, 2018 and December 23, 2020.
He also forced the teen to look at a sexual image for the purposes of his sexual gratification or for humiliating, distressing or alarming him, made more sexual remarks and more threats – which, according to the Crown’s indictment, “compelled the victim to send him photographs in a state of undress”.
Faulkner also sent the victim sexualised communications via Snapchat, including a picture of his private parts.
Faulkner was also convicted of directing sexual verbal and written communications towards a second victim, this one aged 16, between July 8 and 16, 2016 within student accommodation at the University of Stirling.
That offence also included sending sexually explicit messages and images via the Snapchat social media network, asking the victim to engage in sexual activity with him and another man.
The jury also returned guilty verdicts on charges of possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children and taking the same types of photograph or permitting them to be taken or made.
Those offences were committed between June 1, 2018 and February 28, 2021 at Faulkner’s home address in Cumnock and at the Old Racecourse at Victoria Park in Ayr.
Faulkner was also convicted of failing to comply with a bail condition barring him from any unsupervised contact with children; the breach was committed at the Glasgow Academy in the city’s Colebrooke Street between November 19 and December 6, 2021.
Following the jury’s verdict, Faulkner was remanded in custody; he is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow later this month.
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