Alexander Boyd, also known as Sandy, was found guilty of four charges on 3 November 2025 following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. 

The 56-year-old was employed at the residential unit for looked after children in Oban when he began to manipulate both victims under the guise of friendship. Prosecutors led evidence from Boyd’s former colleagues which detailed their concerns about his behaviour.

The staff accounts, supported by historic personnel and social work records, explained how he repeatedly failed to impose and respect appropriate boundaries. This included him buying mobile phone top up cards so he could maintain contact with one child and driving them both around in his personal vehicle.

Evidence of one victim, who died before trial, was given in the form of a handwritten statement and recorded police interview. Boyd went on to sexually abuse and rape both girls on various occasions between 1999 and 2001. 

He was arrested and charged in November 2022. On 7 January 2026, at the High Court in Glasgow, Boyd was given a 10-year extended sentence with eight years in custody. 

His name has been added to the sex offenders register indefinitely and a non-harassment order was also granted. 

Faye Cook, procurator fiscal for High Court sexual offences, said: “Alexander Boyd exploited a position of trust to systematically groom and sexually abuse vulnerable girls, who should have been safe under his care at the residential unit.

“One of the survivors has shared a message to others impacted by sexual abuse: ‘We should never carry the shame of what others have done to us, that shame belongs only to them. Our voices are our power, and silence is the only power they ever had’.