High-risk sex offender who raped young boys as a teenager jailed for eight years

A high-risk sex offender who spent his teenage years preying on vulnerable, younger children has been jailed for eight years.

A judge told Adam Tulloch: “When last you appeared before me, I made it plain that I was bound to regard your offending behaviour as very grave and disturbing.”

Judge Michael O’Grady KC said he described Tulloch’s conduct as “cruel” and “cynical” and added: “I do not depart from the description.”

He pointed out that over a seven year period Tulloch, formerly of Inverness, subjected two younger boys to rape “on numerous occasions”.

The judge said at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You do not accept your guilt, you show no insight and you consider yourself to be the victim in this process.”

“You are assessed as at high risk of sexually reoffending, a conclusion which I have no difficulty accepting,” he said.

The judge said: “I am also bound to take into account the fact that when you did what you did, you were young and, by all accounts, also troubled and disturbed. You were at the material time between 12 and 18.”

He said the prison sentence imposed on Tulloch was shorter than he would have passed on the offender had he been an adult at the time.

“The background report reveals that from a very early age your behaviour was challenging and your upbringing less than satisfactory.”

“Some of your problems have been professionally identified and acknowledged and it is clear the reasons for them cannot be laid at your door. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that your moral compass would be damaged,” said the judge.

He ordered that the sex offender should be under supervision for a further seven year period in the community when he will be on licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches its conditions.

Mr O’Grady said he was satisfied that on Tulloch’s eventual release from jail he would need to be closely monitored for “some considerable time”.

Tulloch, 23, earlier denied sexual assault and rape charges during a trial at the High Court in Inverness, but was convicted of two offences committed in a Highland village between 2014 and 2021 against younger boys.

Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson KC said that Tulloch was still young and was assessed as suitable for taking part in an offender rehabilitation programme.

The judge imposed non harassment orders banning Tulloch from contacting or attempting to contact victims for life.

Tulloch, who was remanded in custody in February following his trial, watched the sentencing proceedings via a TV link to jail.