An academic described as a “master manipulator” has been convicted of sexually assaulting eight young male students.
Professor Kevin O’Gorman, 45, abused eight victims while working at Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt universities between 2006 and 2014.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how he used his position to prey on vulnerable students bidding to get on to advanced degree courses.
The court was told how O’Gorman targeted students who needed help and convinced them they couldn’t succeed without his assistance.
Sheriff Alistair Noble heard one of the victims said O’Gorman visited him at his flat and ordered him to remove his trousers and bend over a bed.
He said he had then been whipped at least 10 times, which left O’Gorman “out of breath and red-faced”.
Another complainer described how, over the course of a Skype call, he was made to stand in a corner and beat himself on the bottom with a wooden spoon.
O’Gorman, of Milngavie, near Glasgow, denied 19 charges against 11 young men. Sheriff Noble acquitted him on three of the allegations and convicted him on all other charges.
O’Gorman – director of Heriot-Watt’s school of management and languages – said he didn’t abuse the students.
He claimed when he ordered a student to stand in the corner, he was following a “mindfulness technique” similar to the one used by 18th-century economist Adam Smith.
The judge told O’Gorman he believed that prosecutors had led enough evidence to justify convicting him.
He added: “I have no problem concluding that the complainers’ evidence against you was truthful and credible. I don’t believe the account which you gave in which you claimed that these encounters were consensual.”
O’Gorman will be sentenced next month.
