An artist has been convicted of a horrific catalogue of sexual and physical abuse of children in the 1980s. Chris Maginn sexually abused a boy and a girl, tortured animals, and forced the girl to kill her pet gerbil with an axe. Maginn, a sculptor who also spent years working on community projects, began abusing the kids when he was aged 35.
He mistreated the kids and another girl when they were aged between 9 and 15. Maginn, now 76, denied all wrongdoing and forced his victims, now adults, to give evidence against him.
And he now faces a lengthy jail term after being convicted of five charges spanning 1981 to 1987. Maginn, of Edinburgh, began abusing the children in March 1981, at areas in Argyll and Bute. He was convicted of one charge of "wilfully ill-treating" the trio, one of assaulting the boy, one of sexually abusing him, and two of sexually assaulting one girl.
