Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been sentenced to seven years in jail after being found guilty of sexually abusing two primary school-age children.
The 49-year-old Scot subjected a girl and a boy to multiple incidents of abuse, with the girl targeted between 1993 and 1996 and the boy between 2006 and 2010.
Dott appeared before judge Lord Harrower at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, where the judge said: “robbed the complainers of a significant part of their childhood”.
Imposing a backdated sentence of seven years, he said Dott’s behaviour had involved a “gross violation of trust”.
A five-day trial heard Dott exposed himself in front of both children, touched them inappropriately and kissed them.
In August, he was found guilty of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour towards them.
During the trial, jurors heard from one of Dott’s victims, a woman now in her 40s.
She told the court that Dott had sexually abused her on multiple separate occasions while she was a child.
The second victim, a man who is now in his late 20s, said he was sexually abused by Dott on multiple occasions.
Dott had denied the charges but was found guilty by the jury.
Lord Harrower remanded him in custody, and his name was added to the sex offenders register.
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.
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