Retired Lieutenant-Colonel is jailed for sex attacks

A retired Army chief and international charity worker who once posed alongside the Queen has been jailed for repeated sex attacks on a young girl.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Gallagher, 66, targeted the ‘vulnerable’ teenager in Scotland while his wife was away in May last year.

After drinking at a local pub, he crept into her bedroom, pulled down her pyjamas and subjected her to hours of sexual acts.

The girl emailed her parents in England the next day and told them what had happened. They rang the police and she was taken to Falkirk Police Station.

Gallagher said he would throw himself in Loch Tay and scrawled the words ‘I’m sorry’ in his diary, which he left open for his wife to find, Falkirk Sheriff Court heard.

Jurors took just 28 minutes to find him guilty of sexual assault after a four-day trial.

Gallagher, of Manse Road, Killin, had denied the charges, claiming the girl had consented. 

He was sentenced today to three years behind bars and has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Gallagher, who served with the Royal Engineers, was once photographed guarding the Queen in Germany while he was still a major.

He accompanied renowned explorer John Blashford-Snell on a series of scientific expeditions to South America, visiting Ecuador, Costa Rica and Columbia. 

Gallagher helped in orphanages in Africa and was pictured on parade alongside Scouts and Guides on Remembrance Sunday while on bail for the offence.

He also played Santa clause at Killin primary school in Perthshire 2016 and at local pub The Capercaillie.

The court heard he moved to Perthshire from Somersham in Cambridgeshire after retiring from the Army.

Gallagher (left) was jailed for three years today. He served with the Royal Engineers and was once pictured alongside the Queen (right)

Sentencing Gallagher, Sheriff Craig Caldwell told him that he took account of his ‘service to his country’ and charity work.

But he added: ‘I do not know what was in your mind. This young girl was alone with you. You were aware of her vulnerability.

‘She put her trust in you, and she was entitled to safety and your protection.

‘Instead of offering her that, you deliberately and cynically took the opportunity to subject her to prolonged sexual assaults which continued, effectively, for an entire night.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gallagher,(pictured in Ecuador in 2012)

‘You visited her bedroom repeatedly for your own sexual gratification, notwithstanding the distress she clearly exhibited.

‘You returned the next morning, when there was further evidence of distress, but still that did not deter you.

‘When she told her parents you lied and tried to cover up, causing further distress.

‘I take account of the fact that you have given substantial service to your country and over a very long number of years and have engaged yourself voluntarily in significant charitable work, but this is an extremely serious offence.

‘One cannot imagine the effects on this girl, this child.

‘These cases cause significant emotional distress, which continues for years.’

Harry Couchlin, defending Gallagher, said: ‘He is a first offender but I cannot minimise these serious offences.’

After sentencing, the girl’s father, a 45-year-old former prison officer, said the sheriff should have sent Gallagher to the High Court for sentence.

He said: ‘Three years isn’t nearly enough.

‘Gallagher did charitable work round the world, predominantly in orphanages, yet he put my daughter through a three-hour sexual ordeal, and then forced her to give evidence at a trial during which she was in and out of the witness box over a period of three days.

‘He begged her not to tell anyone because it would “ruin his life”, but it has taken its toll on her.

‘She has just got her GCE results and got all Cs when she was expected to get As and Bs, and she is having counselling.’

He called for the Royal Engineers to strip Gallagher of the right to use his title, and his £70,000 a year pension.