SENTENCING STATEMENTS
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Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.
HMA v Kenneth Tuckey
Mar 13, 2025
On sentencing, Lady Poole told Tuckey:
“Kenneth Tuckey, you were convicted by the jury at Edinburgh High Court of sexual abuse of three different females.
Your first victim was 14. You were in your late 40s. The jury found that you behaved indecently towards your victim on a number of occasions. It was an appalling breach of trust.
Your second victim was in her early 20s when your abuse of her started. She too was vulnerable. Despite being in your late 60s by the time this abuse started, you repeatedly sexually abused her over a period of about 5 years. The jury convicted you of raping her on one occasion, and sexually assaulting her on others, including sexual penetration.
Your third victim was in her late 20s and staying briefly at your house at a time of trouble in her life. You were 72 when you sexually assaulted her. You entered a bathroom uninvited while she was in the bath, where you sat down to observe her as you spoke to her, and touched her.
All of these females should have been able to trust you, a much older man. Instead you took advantage of their vulnerability for your own sexual gratification. From the two victim impact statements provided to me, it is clear that what you did has harmed your victims. This type of offending causes lasting harm to victims, and is unacceptable in our society.
I ordered a criminal justice social work report to assist me with sentencing you. The assessor noted that you continued to deny having acted in a criminal way towards any of your victims, despite the jury’s verdict. You did not present to the assessor as significantly vulnerable in a prison setting. The assessment found you were a significant sexual risk to females known to you, and recommended an extended sentence.
I have taken into account all of the points made in mitigation on your behalf. You are a 74 year old man with a number of health conditions and issues. You have no previous convictions. You have a good work history before retiring at about 60. You appear to have led a largely pro-social life other than these offences. You have a caring role for your partner. Three character references have been provided for you from your partner, daughter and neighbours, which all speak highly of you, and which I have read carefully.
You have never before been sentenced to imprisonment, but given the nature and circumstances of your offending no other method of dealing with you is appropriate other than a custodial sentence. Offences of this nature must attract a significant prison sentence.
The offending for which the court is sentencing you was still occurring when you were 72, and had spanned a period of about 20 years. This suggests that despite your age and infirmities, public protection remains an issue.
I have decided to impose an extended sentence on you, because normal licence conditions would not be adequate for the purposes of protecting the public from serious harm from you – in particular females you may come into contact with. I have also decided to impose one cumulo sentence on you to cover all of the offending for which you are being sentenced. The sentence I impose is for a total of 9 years, but served in two parts, a custodial part followed by an extension period. The custodial part is 6 years imprisonment, and the extension period a further 3 years.
Had I been sentencing you on each offence separately, I would have imposed a custodial sentence of 18 months on charge 1, 7 years cumulo on charges 2 and 3, and 3 months on charge 4, all of which would fall to be served consecutively. However in totality that would have resulted in too long a custodial period to serve the interests of justice, taking into account the effect of the extension period, which is why I have instead imposed the sentence I have.
Your sentence will be backdated to 12 February 2025 when you were first remanded in custody.
As a result of that sentence you now become subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for an indefinite period.
I also impose a non harassment order on you, which relates to your second victim, whose details will be specified in the court order. You must not approach or contact, or attempt to approach or contact her, by any means, including digital, or through others, for a period of 15 years."