James George Stewart

Introduction

James George Stewart is a 38-year-old man who was sentenced at the High Court in Inverness to an extended sentence of 11 years and six months — a custodial part of nine years and six months with two years to be spent in the community — after the jury convicted him on 8 September 2026 of three charges detailing sexual offences against a child, including a charge of rape . Stewart had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault against a partner or former partner, a course of conduct the judge detailed alongside the child-abuse convictions . Judge Pasportnikov’s sentencing remarks describe abuse of the first victim from the time she was approximately 5 until she was 12 years old, on an almost daily basis, and a separate pattern of sexual touching of a sleeping partner over several years .

Background Information

The jury’s verdict followed a trial at the High Court in Inverness ending on 8 September 2026; the case was sentenced on 3 November 2026, with a published sentencing statement from the Judiciary of Scotland . The first victim reported the abuse to the police in 2023, driven by her concerns for the safety of a younger female relative; the offences against the second victim were reported in March 2024 . Defence counsel Mr Dow represented Stewart, who told the court he had held down employment, showed remorse, had his own mental health difficulties and had experienced an adverse and traumatic childhood — mitigation the judge said he had listened to carefully before concluding that only a prison sentence was appropriate .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted at trial of child sexual offences; extended sentence.

The first victim described a close relationship with Stewart and regularly spending time at his home from an early age; from when she was approximately 5 until she was 12, he subjected her to repeated sexual abuse — predominantly in his bedroom, involving repeated acts of oral sexual activity, digital penetration and vaginal penetration, frequently on an almost daily basis and often while others were elsewhere in the house . She suffered pain and bleeding after an incident of vaginal penetration when she was approximately 8 or 9; Stewart told her to keep the abuse secret, and she remained fearful of disclosing it, in part because she believed threats had been made concerning a younger family member; she disclosed the abuse only as a young adult, and reported it to police in 2023 over concerns for a younger relative . The second victim — a partner or former partner — described at least twenty incidents between 2019 and 2023 in which she awoke to find Stewart touching her breasts and genital area without her knowledge or consent while she was asleep or drowsy, including while she was taking medication that caused significant drowsiness, and including one occasion of digital penetration; the conduct stopped only after she changed her sleeping arrangements and clothing and he learned she had discussed it with another person . Stewart had accepted guilt only in part against the first victim — claiming he had carried out sexual acts on just three occasions, when he was 12 and she was 5 — and the jury rejected that version, accepting instead that the offending spanned his teenage years; he admitted the offences against the second victim in full .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Judge Pasportnikov told Stewart he had “robbed a child of her innocence and caused her great pain, both physical and emotional”; the first victim’s statements described mental illness blighting her life from her teenage years, flashbacks, nightmares, contemplated self-harm, fear of men, isolation from family and inability to work . The second victim reported ongoing difficulty trusting people and “an irrational fear of going to sleep at night”; the judge told Stewart the blame for both women’s difficulties lay with him alone . For the child-rape charge the judge categorised culpability at Level B with harm at the upper end of Level 2, citing the four-to-five-year course of conduct, the child’s young age at the outset, ejaculation on occasion and Stewart’s steps to prevent reporting; balancing the charges — nine years would have been appropriate for the child-abuse course of conduct, two years for the sexual assault of the partner, six months of it attributable to domestic aggravation — he imposed a single custodial period within an extended sentence of 11 years and six months, reflecting what he called the totality of the criminality .

Current Status

Stewart is serving an extended sentence of 11 years and six months — nine years and six months in custody with a two-year extension — imposed on 3 November 2026 by Judge Pasportnikov at the High Court in Inverness . He maintains the limited position he took at trial in relation to the first victim, and told the court through his counsel that he is willing to engage in intervention to reduce his risk of further offending; the judge noted the pre-sentence report did not record his understanding of the impact of his actions on the complainers, while accepting that when he apologised to the first victim he had offered to go to the police and was prevented by family members . No appeal was reported in the published sources .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Stewart, who had held down employment, now faces nearly a decade in prison followed by a two-year extension period under supervision in the community, with the convictions for the rape of a child and the sexual assault of a partner recorded against him after a trial in which the jury expressly rejected his account . The judge’s remarks — “Women should be allowed to feel safe in our society, particularly in their own home and in the company of someone with whom they had been in an intimate relationship” — placed his offending against his partner within the domestic-abuse pattern the court treated as an aggravating feature, alongside the childhood abuse that dominated the trial .

Sources

• “HMA v James George Stewart” — Judiciary of Scotland sentencing statement, 3 November 2026: source