Victims' anger at 'insulting' sentences for abusive foster carer and rapist son

People who were abused by a foster carer and her son have described the sentences handed to them as "utterly insulting". Jennifer Robertson, 79, abused children as young as 10 months old, physically assaulted young girls and forced food down their throats at a property in Perthshire between 1980 and 1995. Her son Steven Robertson, 52, sexually abused a number of the girls between 1986 and 1995, sometimes acting with his late father Alan Robertson. He also sexually assaulted another girl in the Dundee area between 2015 and 2017. He was given 11 years in jail for his crimes, while his mother was given 250 hours of unpaid work. Both were convicted of a total of nine charges last month. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Jennifer Robertson "failed to take steps" to stop her son assaulting and raping one of the girls on various occasions between 1988 and 1995. Jurors heard how the mother - who has 10 grandchildren - subjected complainers to painful physical assaults. Some of the pair's victims, who were present in court for sentencing, wept throughout proceedings as their abusers stood in the dock in front of them. After the hearing on Friday, law firm Digby Brown issued a statement

Apr 17, 2026 → Apr 17, 2026