FOR years, Derek Lincoln used a religious cult as a cloak to hide his twisted lust for young girls.

Decades later, justice has finally caught up with the perverted pensioner.

Lincoln carried out a series of sickening sex attacks in Barrhead and other towns in the west of Scotland.

He was a member of a group known as the Children of God which had little contact with the outside world but gave him plenty of opportunity to target vulnerable children.

These youngsters were entitled to look to Lincoln for protection but, instead, he used them for his own sexual gratification.

Among those who suffered terribly at his hands is Hope Bastine, who bravely waived her right to anonymity after he was jailed for 11-and-a-half years by judge Lord Matthews at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.

Now aged 41, Ms Bastine encouraged other sex abuse survivors to step forward and seek justice.

“My childhood and adolescence were cruelly stolen from me by a man who repeatedly abused me within a religious cult which legitimised his actions,” she said.

“By incarcerating my abuser for 11-and-a-half years, Lord Matthews has set me free.

“Finally, I can give myself permission to pursue happiness and peace.”
Lincoln, 74, admitted the historic rape and sexual assaults of two young girls from when they were just nine and 11.

He abused them at addresses in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire between 1989 and 1996.

Sentencing Lincoln, also known as John Green, Lord Matthews said he had pleaded guilty to “a sickening catalogue of child abuse.”

He added: “I am told that you have expressed remorse. I have no idea if that is genuine or not.

“You could have chosen to help these little girls to have a happy childhood and prepare for adolescence and adulthood in a loving, caring environment but, instead, you stole their innocence and sacrificed their dreams on the altar of your own perverted desires.”

Lincoln’s first victim was raped, beaten with a belt and had soap shoved into her mouth.

She later tried to take her own life.

His second victim was raped at the age of nine or 10.

Lincoln would apologise to her and buy her gifts to keep her quiet.

A probe was eventually sparked when one of the victims bravely went to police in England.

By this time, Lincoln was retired and living in France but he was hauled back to Scotland in October last year to face justice.