Former Argyll and Bute soldier jailed after 50 year campaign of sexual assault
Malcolm Sloss, who's 71, has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars for crimes against two women and two girls between 1980 and 2021
A former soldier who preyed on four victims during a five-decade campaign of abuse in Argyll and Bute has been jailed for 13 years.
Malcolm Sloss was today sentenced at the High Court in Paisley.
The now 71-year-old committed the crimes against two women and two girls in and around his hometown of Oban from the late 1980s to 2021.
Sloss - who latterly worked in building his own properties as well as a farrier hoofing horses - was branded a "sexual predator" at his trial at the High Court in Glasgow last November.
It was there he was convicted of a total of 10 charges including raping two of the women and one girl.
He was guilty of sexual assault and making sleazy remarks to the other youngster.
Jurors heard Sloss claim the first rape victim had been "flirty" with him while he was helping her fit a wood-burning stove at her home.
He denied later forcing himself on the woman.
His KC Murray Macara put to him at the trial: "She repeatedly described you as persistent.
"It was on your instigation that sexual activity took place and that you were determined to persuade her to do what you wanted."
Sloss raped the next woman after parking his car near a quiet recycling centre.
He denied attacking her insisting it was a "mutual idea" that they had sex that night.
Sloss then preyed on a teenage girl who also had an interest in horses.
He again claimed any sexual contact was consensual despite the 40-year age gap.
He also refuted claims he had attacked the girl during a car journey to England.
Jurors heard Sloss also molested another young girl and made sleazy comments to her.
Prosecutor Lorraine Glancy KC later put to Sloss that, on his account, the teenage girl he raped must be "delusional".
He replied: "No, that is what you are saying. Some people do not tell the truth because they are delusional, but I am not saying she is.
"I had a moment of madness with her. As far as sex with her was not consensual, that is a lie."
He was also quizzed about attacking the girl while on the car journey.
Sloss: "No one but a madman would try that at 70mph down a motorway."
He also denied the charges involving the other victims with Miss Glancy suggesting one woman must be "an accomplished actress" if she was lying.
Judge William Gallacher remarked that the prosecutors had described Sloss as a "sexual predator" and that "the charges confirm that".