Rapist who spiked baby's bottle with vodka before abuse jailed for 12 years

A man who raped and abused vulnerable children for two decades and put vodka into a baby's bottle before sexually assaulting her has been jailed for 12 years.

Ian Whyte, 62, carried out a campaign of abuse against youngsters in Edinburgh between December 1978 and May 1998.

The attack on the baby girl took place between 1982 and 1983 - when Whyte was about 18 years old and the baby was under a year old.

Judge Thomas Welsh KC told him: "You targeted and abused vulnerable children and teenagers. Your conduct was evil, calculating and pernicious."

Whyte was found guilty on nine charges of sexual assault and rape following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this year.

He will be placed under supervision for three years following his release from prison.

The judge added: "You have stated that the complainers were lying and conspired against you for financial reasons.

"You have, in short, shown no remorse or empathy for the terrible harm you have caused."

The judge said he had read "detailed and devastating" victim impact statements provided to the court.

The judge previously made non-harassment orders prohibiting Whyte from contacting or attempting to contact his victims and placed him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The court heard previously that Whyte's offending began in December 1978, when he was about 14 years old, when he sexually assaulted a four-year-old boy.

He continued to abuse the boy for four years.

Whyte then targeted the baby girl, raped a nine-year-old girl and raped a 12-year-old girl in the period between September 1982 and September 1983.

In a later incident Whyte provided a 13-year-old girl with solvents and attempted to rape her.

He also physically and sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl on various occasions between 1995 and 1998.

Jurors were told that Whyte made some of his victims play a game called "mummies and daddies" before abusing them.

Following his conviction, the court was told that Whyte had previously served four years in the late 1990s for other sexual assaults.

Whyte, who attended court in a wheelchair, had denied the charges.

Asked during the trial about the evidence given by his victims, he replied: "It's lies. It's all lies."

Defence counsel Scot Dignan said Whyte continued to deny the offending, but indicated that he respected the decision of the jury.