The paedophile manager of a children’s home is facing a lengthy jail sentence after subjecting vulnerable boys in care to “unspeakable” cruelty.
Peter Harley, 77, preyed on the children at a now closed local authority institution in Moffat.
Harley has already been jailed for 15 years in 1996 after admitting sexually abusing 16 boys at Merkland Children’s Home which he ran for several years.
He was later imprisoned for a further six years for further offences following another conviction at Cardiff Crown Court.
After his latest conviction at the High Court in Edinburgh a judge told him: “You are a thoroughly wicked individual.”
Judge Michael O’Grady QC added that Harley’s cruelty was unspeakable and he had led “a virtual lifetime of depravity preying on vulnerable children”.
Mr O’Grady deferred sentence on Harley for the preparation of a report but told him he faced “a significant sentence of imprisonment”.
Harley, of Aberteifi Crescent, Cardiff, had denied a series of offences during his latest trial but was found guilty of two charges of indecent conduct towards two boys and the indecent assault of one of the victims at Merkland between 1977 and 1982.
One boy was aged 12 when he became a target for the predatory officer and the other was aged 11.
Harley, who was known as “Pops” by youngsters, later took redundancy when the home was closed, the court heard.
One of the victims said: “He was the manager. He was the boss. All the boys called him ‘Pop’.” He told the court: “Initially I thought he was a nice bloke, but that changed.” He said Harley began touching him during bathtime.
The victim, now aged 56, said he told him to “leave me alone” but said he was later subjected to a rape attack by the care worker.
He said: “I tried to struggle to get away. The more I struggled the harder he pressed. The pain was unbearable.”
The man said that afterwards Harley told him to get washed and threw clean pyjamas on the floor and took blood-stained ones away.
He said: “I was just totally numb and frightened. I couldn’t believe what had happened. I was absolutely petrified and I was in pain.”
He later ran away from the institution and told the court: “I heard people crying. I was scared. I didn’t want to be there any more.”
Harley was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.
