Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been sentenced to seven years in prison 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 Lord Harrower at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, where the judge said he had “robbed the complainers of a significant part of their childhood”.
Imposing a backdated seven-year sentence, Lord Harrower said Dott’s behaviour involved a “gross violation of trust”.
A five-day trial heard that 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 the children.
During the trial, jurors heard from one of Dott’s victims, a woman now in her 40s, who said he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions when she was a child.
The second victim, a man now in his late 20s, also told the court that Dott had sexually abused him on multiple occasions.
Dott denied the charges but was found guilty by the jury.
Lord Harrower remanded him in custody and ordered that his name be added to the sex offenders register.
Dott, who turned professional in 1994, won the World Snooker Championship in 2006 after defeating Peter Ebdon in the final at the Crucible in Sheffield.
He reached the final twice more but lost to 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.
