A PERVERT who forced a young girl to perform sex acts has finally been jailed for his sickening crimes...more than 30 years after they took place.

Paul Cochrane, 51, was aged between 13 and 15 at the time of the sex offences.

He twice forced the girl, who was just nine when the abuse started, to give him oral sex.

On another occasion, he ordered her to perform oral sex on another male in exchange for money paid to him.

Cochrane, formerly of Ellon Drive, Linwood, was today jailed for 42 months at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Passing sentence, judge Simon Collins KC told him that, given the nature of the offences, there was no alternative to a significant prison term.

He added: "All the offences took place when you were a child or a young adult."

The judge also said he took into account that the crimes were committed more than 30 years ago, adding: "Your risk of reoffending is low."

Cochrane was earlier convicted of three charges of indecent behaviour following a trial at which he had denied his guilt.

The first two offences took place between October 1984 and October 1986 at a house in Paisley.

The third also occurred at an address in Paisley, between August 1988 and October 1989, when Cochrane exposed himself to a five-year-old boy.

Defence solicitor advocate Robert Mitchell told the court the offences involving the girl were "very serious charges" but said Cochrane is now "a very different person" from the one who had committed the historical abuse.

He added that his client was "quite well known" in Paisley and had worked in the hospitality sector.

Mr Mitchell said Cochrane had no record for similar offending and no convictions over the last two decades.

"These matters on this indictment are extremely unusual in this man's history," he told the court.

Mr Mitchell asked the judge to take into account that the abuse against the girl was committed when Cochrane was of "a very young age."

Cochrane, who followed the sentencing proceedings via a televised link to Low Moss prison, outside Glasgow, was told that he would be put on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period.