Paedo priest Father Francis Moore who repeatedly raped boy, 5, in Ayrshire is jailed for nine years

A paedophile priest has been jailed for nine years after repeatedly raping a five-year-old boy and abusing other youths.

Father Francis Moore, 82, forced his vulnerable victims to relive the horror abuse by giving evidence during his trial.

Today, Judge Rita Rae slammed the Ayrshire beast for abusing his position within the church.

He was convicted of the historic sexual abuse of three young boys and a trainee priest.

And one of his victims Paul Smyth, now 49, has urged other victims  to come forward.

Moore, who was also known as Father Paul, was found guilty after trial at the High Court in Glasgow last month.

Judge Lady Rae told him: “You have been convicted of despicable crimes involving the sexual abuse of three children 40 years ago and more recently of a student priest.

“The most serious of these crime involved the repeated sodomy of a little boy aged five.

“In carrying out these crime you took advantage of your position as a minister of religion, a profession from which the public, including children, ought to be able to expect integrity, trust, support and pastoral care.

“What you did was a gross breach of trust.

“The complainers have displayed considerable courage in coming forward to denounce your criminal conduct.”

Moore showed no emotion as he was led away to begin his sentence.

Outside court, brave victim Paul Smyth, who has waived his right to anonymity, said: “I am glad justice is done and I can finally put this behind me.

“I am sure there are other survivors who were too scared to come forward.”

Paul, who was sexually abused as a boy on Irvine beach, added: “I would urge all victims of historic abuse to go to the police and give their testimony.

“Tell a teacher, tell your parents, tell the police, tell the clergy. There are good clergy as well as abusive clergy in the Catholic Church.”

The court heard allegations against Father Moore were first raised in 1996 but it was not until 2015 that a major cop probe was launched after former top cop and former Labour MSP Graeme Pearson flagged the matter in parliament.

Bishop Maurice Taylor, 91, told the court Moore admitted he had “an attraction to young boys” and had “a desire to abuse minors” – and was shipped off to a specialist clinic in Toronto for his “problem”.

When he returned from Canada he was told he could no longer serve as a parish priest.

The court also heard the priest groomed some of his victims by taking them swimming or out for meals before sexually abusing them.

His youngest victim was just five when the priest abused him at primary school

The man, now 46, told how Moore kissed him and then sexually abused him.

He said the abuse took place for the first time when he was sent to Moore by his teachers after drawing a picture of Jesus Christ with nipples.

The man said he was crying and Moore embraced him and then sexually abused him.