Beast bus driver facing jail for abusing Scots actor and another man when they were boys
An entertainer is facing a lengthy jail term after being convicted of the sexual abuse of a Scots actor and another man when he worked as their school bus driver.
Dean Elliott, who runs karaoke company Elliott Entertainments, abused the pair in Tayside when they were aged between 12 and 16.
He groomed the youngsters after meeting them on his school bus, getting their mobile phone numbers and texting them regularly.
And after he had gained the trust of the schoolboys, he went on to abuse them on the school bus and within his car
Elliott, now of West Kilbride, Ayrshire, denied his guilt, forcing the men, now in their 30s, to give evidence against him.
The actor, who has starred in West End musicals and has a huge social media following, told how he was abused between 2002 and 2005.
Elliott - who boasts on his social media account that he will give clients "a great night" - was convicted of three charges following a High Court trial.
The Elliott Entertainment Facebook page states the company is based in Glasgow and showed Elliott running events in pubs in Airdrie and Dumbarton last year.
In his closing speech to the jury at the High Court in Stirling, Advocate Depute David McDonald said: "At the time of these allegations, the age of consent was 16.
"Children, as these boys were at the time, cannot consent to sexual conduct.
"They both told us about conduct perpetrated against them, which perhaps unsurprisingly, took place in private or secluded places.
"What began as ordinary interaction developed into something altogether different.
"The first boy told us about how he got Mr Elliott’s mobile telephone number and engaged in regular communication with him by text message.
"He told us about the sort of things they discussed. That he felt safe discussing such matters with Dean. He confided in him. Looked up to him. Loved him."
The court heard Elliott sent the boy a naked picture, with the boy sending one back.
Elliott commented on the size of the youngster's penis and said: “It’ll look bigger once you lose the puppy fat”.
Mr McDonald, prosecuting, added: "He told us about the multiple occasions when he remained alone on the bus with Dean Elliott after other pupils had been dropped off, and to journeys during which he would stop in laybys.
"He told us that Dean Elliott sold it to him as his chance to explore.
"A vulnerable child, groomed by a grown man to the point where he is now alone and Dean Elliott is in a position to abuse him.
"He explained to us that this wasn’t a one-off incident. This was through Dean Elliott’s cultivation of a vulnerable child.
"The other boy also described coming into contact with Dean Elliott through his role as a school bus driver.
"He told us that he couldn’t recall how he came to have his phone number and that communication developed between them.
"He spoke to receiving a photograph of a penis and to what he described as “sexting” between the two of them.
"According to his evidence, these communications and interactions were not isolated incidents but formed part of a developing relationship in which you can reasonably infer that Dean Elliott increasingly introduced sexual content and behaviour.
"Dean Elliott groomed and abused them when they were schoolboys."
Elliott was convicted last month and will learn his fate when he returns to the dock this week to be sentenced.
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