A man blindfolded a young girl with a scarf before sexually abusing her.

Stephen Selfridge was jailed for five years after subjecting two victims to a catalogue of physical and sexual offending which continued against one until she was a mother-to-be.

The 43-year-old twice carried out the act on the girl when she was aged between seven and eight at a house in a Perthshire village. The victim was blindfolded using a scarf.

A judge told Selfridge: "Your conduct towards these girls was shameful and persistent and has affected them adversely."

Lord Uist told the sex offender at the High Court in Edinburgh: "The offences of which you were convicted involved a degree of planning."

A jury convicted him of a total of 13 charges carried out between 2004 and 2016 including indecency offences, assault and sexual assault.

The attacker, from Perth, was also placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

One victim told advocate depute Derick Nelson she was "terrified".

She said: "He would cover my mouth and my nose with his hands, pinching my nose and his hand over my mouth. I was unable to breathe."

The woman, now aged 23, said Selfridge had also strangled her and added: "Both his hands were round my neck and I passed out.

"He told me not to tell anybody or he would do something worse. He would make you feel so scared you couldn't tell anyone."