Scots teacher accused of abusing 13 children at school - charges in full

A teacher has appeared in court charged with more than 20 sex offences - including claims he abused thirteen children at the school where he worked.

Martin Gallacher, who taught at Paisley Grammar School, is alleged to have targeted the youngsters between 2013 and 2024.

He faces a total of 22 charges and pleaded not guilty to all alleged offences when he appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last week.

He is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a boy when the youngster was aged between 10 and 12.

Court papers claim the abuse took place at the school and elsewhere between 2013 and 2016 and saw Gallacher performing sex acts on the boy and sitting the pupil on his knee.

He is also accused of communicating in an "indecent and sexual manner" with the same boy between the same dates.

He is also accused of abusing the boy when the youngster was aged between 13 and 15, between 2016 and 2018.

And he is accused of communicating with the boy "in an indecent and sexual manner" between 2016 and 2018, when the boy was between 13 and 15.

Between 2017 and 2018 he is alleged to have targeted another boy, who was aged 16 and 17, by touching and rubbing him on the body.

And between 2018 and 2019 he is said to have communicated "in an indecent and sexual manner" with the same youngster.

Between 2019 and 2020, prosecutors claim Gallacher targeted another youngster, who was only 11 and 12.

Court papers state that he sexually assaulted the youngster by touching and rubbing his body.

And he is alleged to have sexually abused the boy in the same way, between 2020 and 2024, once the youngster was 13 and above.

In 2019 and 2020 it's alleged Gallacher targeted another youngster, who was just 12m in the same way.

And he denies continuing to sexually abuse the boy in the same way from 2020 to 2022, after the boy had turned 13.

In 2023 and 2024 he is accused of targeting a boy aged 11 and 12, in the same way as the other alleged victims.

The 46-year-old is accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy at the Renfrewshire Council-run school in 2024.

Prosecutors claim he touched the teen, stroked his back and placed his hands into his shorts and underwear.

In 2024 another alleged victim was 13 and was touched and rubbed, according to court papers.

The indictment states that another boy was abused in 2021 and 2022 when he was 14.

And another 12-year-old was allegedly abused in 2018 and 2019, with Gallacher accused of putting his hands inside the boy's shorts and underwear and touching his privates.

The same boy is also said to have been abused repeatedly from 2019 to 2023, after turning 13, in the same way.

In 2024, Gallacher is said to have abused his tenth victim, when the youngster was 12.

Between 2022 and 2024, his eleventh alleged victim was allegedly assaulted, when he was 11, 12 and 13.

He is accused of abusing his twelfth alleged victim in 2023 and 2024, when he was 12.

And he is said to have abused his thirteenth victim in 2023 and 2024 when the youngster was 11 and 12. 

Gallacher, of Paisley, pleaded not guilty during a hearing on Friday, May 1, 2026, and a jury trial was set for later this year.