A RETIRED private school teacher was caught sexually abusing two young sisters after one of his victims dubbed him “Pervy Paul” in her diary.

Paul Carline, of Biggar, targeted the youngsters when they were aged between five and 12 years old by exposing his genitals and making sexual comments to the pair after being left alone with them.

Carline, 79, also fondled the breasts of one victim and on one occasion crept into her bed during the night and slept beside her when he stayed over at their home in Edinburgh in the late 1990s.

The abuse stopped after the concerned mother discovered one of her daughters had written the nickname “Pervy Paul” in her diary in 2002 and all contact with him stopped.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told none of the incidents were reported to the police until one of the victims underwent therapy as an adult and decided to notify the police in 2018.

Carline – who taught languages at the exclusive Rudolf Steiner school – denied the allegations of indecent assault and engaging in lewd and libidinous practices and stood trial at the capital court last week.

The court was told Carline was a friend of the family and began spending time with the children and their father following the break up the parents’ marriage in 1996.

One victim, now in her 30s, told the court Carline first targeted her when she was sleeping over at her father’s flat in Edinburgh when she was just five years old.

The woman described several incidents including when Carline climbed into her bed during the night and while tickling her she had noticed he had been “in a state of arousal”.

The woman said: “I recall his hands were all over my body. I just remember it feeling very invasive and it felt like I wanted it to stop.”

She told the court on one occasion he had touched her breasts and in a separate incident he had walked in on her while she was in a state of undress and made sexual comments to her.

The second woman said Carline had exposed his penis to her after he had taken the children to swim in a local river and he had kissed her on the mouth while on a country walk.

She also said he had placed his hands inside the back of her trousers and rested them on her buttocks while they watched a movie at his home.

The children’s mother told the trial she became concerned about one daughter’s behaviour when she was around 13 years old and while checking her diary she saw the term “Pervy Paul” written down to describe Carline.

She said her daughter felt “afraid and embarrassed” when confronted about the diary entry and all contact with Carline was stopped.

Carline gave evidence during the three day trial and denied the claims of indecent assault and making sexual comments towards the children over an eight-year period.

He admitted stripping naked during the swimming trip with the children but denied exposing his genitals to them.

He also denied having my sexual motivation towards the children and any touching between them had been “unintentional” on his part.

On Friday, Sheriff Julius Komorowski found Carline guilty of indecently assaulting one child and using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards both children by exposing his naked penis and uttering sexual remarks towards them, all between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2006.

The sheriff said he was “satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” the two victims were telling the truth and described Carline’s evidence as “implausible” and “far-fetched and fanciful”.

The sheriff acquitted Carline of a separate offence of indecently assaulting the children’s mother between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 1998 at Tyninghame beach in East Lothian.

Carline was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and sentence was deferred to next month for the preparation of reports.