The former snooker world champion Graeme Dott has been jailed for seven years at the high court in Edinburgh after being convicted of sexually abusing two young children. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In August, Dott was found guilty of sexually abusing a boy and a girl after a five-day trial at Glasgow high court. The court heard that the 2006 world champion inappropriately touched and exposed himself to both children. He denied the charges but was convicted of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour by a majority verdict.
Dott appeared at the high court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, where the judge, Lord Harrower, told him he had "robbed the complainers of a significant part of their childhood".
Imposing a backdated sentence of seven years, he said the 49-year-old's behaviour had involved a "gross violation of trust" that carried "the hallmarks of grooming".
Using pseudonyms for the boy and girl, Harrower said: "In both cases the abuse included penetrative sexual activity and in the case of Jane behaviour that would now be classed as rape."
Dott has continued to maintain his innocence, the court heard. Between 1993 and 1996, Dott – starting when he himself was still a child aged 16 or 17 – targeted a girl on multiple occasions. The woman, now in her 40s, told the trial that the abuse began when he started "caressing" her bottom over her clothing while giving her a piggyback.
She told the court that Dott had told her not to tell anyone that he was sexually abusing her, describing incidents when he had suggested playing a "guessing game". He would expose himself to her, she said, and began touching her with different parts of his body, including his penis.
The second victim, a man now in his late 20s, was targeted between 2006 and 2010. He said he was sexually abused by Dott on multiple occasions, with the snooker player touching him inappropriately, kissing him and performing sexual acts. He told the court a lot of the abuse took place while he was in a shower, when Dott would come in either partly or completely undressed.
"He would … come into the shower and put soap on my body and wash me in the shower," the man told the court. "While he was washing me he would touch me in inappropriate places."
He said looking back at it now, Dott was "clearly getting sexual gratification from it", and he was "pleasuring himself" while this was taking place. The man said that because of his age at the time, he "did not know what was going on", and it was only later he realised the interaction "wasn't right". The witness also described abuse which took place in a car, where he said Dott would kiss him on the face, head and lips and "push himself up against me".
Harrower remanded Dott in custody and his name was added to the sex offender register indefinitely. Euan Dow, Dott's lawyer, told the court in mitigation that his client had longstanding mental health issues, adding that his personal and professional reputations had been destroyed. The 49-year-old has separated from his wife but she remains supportive of him, the court heard.
Dott, who turned professional in 1994, won the World Snooker Championship in 2006, defeating Peter Ebdon in the final at the Crucible in Sheffield. He reached the final in two other years but was beaten by Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2004 and Neil Robertson in 2010.
Following his conviction, Dott's name was removed from World Snooker's hall of fame.