A FORMER children's panel chairman has been jailed for 12 years for sexually abusing two boys and a young man.

Daniel Ross, 62, began abusing one of his victims from the age of 14 in the 1990s, and another from the age of 13 in the 1980s, at locations in Glasgow.

Ross' first victim, now aged 55, was sexually assaulted after they met at a club in the late 1970s.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Ross was also placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

Lord Matthews told Ross that he was guilty of "very grave offences".

The judge said Ross' involvement with the children's panel could have been viewed as a "mitigatory factory", but here it had the opposite effect.

The judge went on: "It was your position which gave you access to the young vulnerable boys and who were entitled to look to you to make important decisions for their welfare.

"Decisions which should have enabled them to make the most of the poor start they had been given in life.

"Instead you grossly abused your position of trust and made decisions for your own benefit."

Ross' trial heard how he abused his senior position at the children's panel to prey on a teenage boy at its offices in the city's Albion Street in the 1990s.

The victim, now aged 38, recalled how he had been in care since the age of 11 and ended up before the children's panel due to his problems at the time.

He told the jury that he initially thought Ross was "quite a nice person" but this changed when he was about 14.

The witness said that Ross abused him for the first time before a children's panel hearing in Albion Street.

The incident took place in a room next to where the panel was to be held.

The court was told that as Ross continued to molest the boy, he told him that he would deny what had happened "because of his position".

Ross had already earlier abused another young boy between 1985 and 1988. He also met this victim through the children's panel.

Ross then got him a job at a cafe he ran - giving him access to prey on the troubled youngster.

The victim said he was about 13 when the attacks began and that it became a 'regular think'.