A SEX offender who began abusing a little girl when she was aged three and went on to repeatedly rape his child victim has been jailed for nine years.

Ronald Davidson also preyed on a young boy who he sexually abused on one occasion at a house in Dunfermline.

A judge told Davidson, 54, at the High Court in Edinburgh that he perpetrated "a disgraceful course of sexual conduct" towards his victims.

Lord Weir noted that he showed no remorse and told him: "The complainers have had to live with the consequences of what you did over a period of many years."

He said: "You are aware there is no alternative to a significant custodial sentence."

Davidson, of Preston Crescent, High Valleyfield, Fife, denied sexual abuse charges during an earlier trial but was found guilty of three offences.

He carried out indecent conduct towards the female victim from when she was aged three in 1982 until 1991 at four addresses in the Dunfermline area. Davidson molested the child and carried out sex acts on her.

He was also found guilty of raping her on various occasions at a house in Dunfermline and at a wooded area in the town's Rex Park between February 1986 and February 1991.

The girl was pushed to the ground and pinned down Davidson was also convicted of a serious indecency offence against the boy on an occasion between July 1986 and July 1990 when the victim was aged between five and eight.

Defence counsel Kenneth Cloggie said: "His offending commenced when was a child but it persisted until he was 21 years of age."

"Sentences for this type of crime are appropriately significant and he knows that," he told the court.

He said Davidson had a good work record and strong work ethic and has also cared for his wife for several years.

Davidson was placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely following his sentencing.