SENTENCING STATEMENTS

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When deciding a sentence, a judge must deal with the offence that the offender has been convicted of, taking into account the unique circumstances of each particular case. The judge will carefully consider the facts that are presented to the Court by both the prosecution and by the defence.

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Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.

HMA v Graeme Dott

Sep 29, 2026

At the High Court in Edinburgh Lord Harrower sentenced Graeme Dott to 7 years imprisonment after the offender was convicted of engaging in lewd and libidinous practices towards two children.

On sentencing Lord Harrower made the following remarks in court:

"Graeme Dott, you have been found guilty of engaging in lewd and libidinous practices towards two children. I will call them Jane and Kevin, though obviously that is not their real names.

You abused Jane on various occasions when she was about 9 or 10. At that time, you would have been 16 or 17. About 10 years later you engaged in similar offending against Kevin. He was 8 when it began, and it continued until he was about 12. It is unnecessary in these brief sentencing remarks to rehearse the details of the evidence. However, in both cases, the abuse included penetrative sexual activity and, in the case of Jane, behaviour that would now be classed as rape.

I must assess the seriousness of your offending by reference to culpability and harm, while taking account of the relevant sentencing guidelines.

So far as culpability is concerned, each child was vulnerable for reasons that went beyond simply their age. Your behaviour towards them bore the classic hallmarks of grooming. You rewarded them with treats, or warned them that they wouldn’t be believed if they told anyone. You disguised your abuse as part of a game or personal care. Of course, at the time of your offending against Jane, you yourself were still a child. However, by the time you began abusing Kevin, you were a married man in your thirties, with a family of your own. Your behaviour towards both children involved a gross violation of trust.

As for harm, you robbed the complainers of a significant part of their childhood. I am grateful to each of them for providing me with personal statements, in which they describe their struggles to make sense of their lives amid the overwhelming emotions of fear, shame and anger, as well as the continuing impact into adulthood that your actions have had on their mental well-being.

Graeme Dott, you are now 49 years’ old. I have taken account of everything said on your behalf by Mr Dow, including the impact that these convictions have already had on your career. Your only previous convictions are for relatively minor road traffic offences, and the social worker who has provided a report for today’s hearing has assessed you as presenting with a below average risk of sexual re-offending. You continue to maintain your innocence, which is of course your right. However, it also means that I am unable to take account of any remorse on your part, or any insight into the harm you inflicted.

Had I been imposing separate sentences in respect of each charge, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of 4 years in respect of charge 1, and 4 years in respect of charge 2. However, in order to reach a proportionate sentence overall, I will sentence you, in respect of both charges 1 and 2, in cumulo, to a period of imprisonment of 7 years. The sentence will be backdated to 24 August 2026, when you were remanded in custody.

In respect of both charges, you will remain subject to the notification provisions of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for an indefinite period as that term is defined in the legislation.