Jail term for sex abuse soldier

A soldier has been jailed for two years and eight months for carrying out a sex attack on a five-year-old boy.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Juhl Holdaway abused the boy six years ago in a house in Forfar, Angus.

The 23-year-old previously admitted indecent behaviour on one occasion between January and December, 2002.

Holdaway told the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, he would hurt him badly if he ever revealed what had happened.

The boy eventually told his mother while watching a television programme which featured child abuse.

Detectives visited the Suffolk barracks where Holdaway was based and he later admitted the offence.

He was 16 or 17 at the time, and babysitting, when he carried out the sex act.

Defence counsel Susan Duff told the court Holdaway was highly regarded by officers and seen as a responsible and diligent young man.

She said he was a significantly different person from the one who committed the offence, and he would be discharged from the Army because of it.

Judge Lady Clark told Holdaway, who was also placed on the sex offenders' register: "This is a very serious offence, a custodial sentence is the only option.

"This offence was committed on one occasion when you were 16 and since then you have led a blameless life.

"I am impressed that you admitted your guilt from the outset and saved the enormous distress of giving evidence to your victim."