Burns scholar unmasked as convicted paedophile is jailed for historical abuse

A convicted paedophile who changed his name and became president of the Robert Burns World Federation has been jailed for five years after more victims of his historical abuse came forward.

Marc Sherland, now 70, was found guilty in May of indecently assaulting three teenage boys at his Paisley home between 1988 and 1990.

He was originally convicted in 1991 of abusing two boys aged eight and 10 when he worked as a council youth worker in Renfrew.

Following his earlier conviction, he disguised his past as a sex offender by changing his name, before going on to become a cultural ambassador for Burns' poetry and the Scots language.

Sentencing him at Paisley Sheriff Court, Sheriff Gillian Craig said a five-year prison sentence would be followed by three years of supervision after his release.

She also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prohibits him from having any contact with children for a period of 20 years.

Sheriff Craig said Sherland had "intentionally" gained employment working with children and that he had groomed them before carrying out his "appalling" offences.

She said Sherland's actions demonstrated his "evil intent" and a "clear pattern of predatory behaviour".

The harm caused to his victims throughout their adult life had been "devastating", the sheriff said.

She said Sherland had reported that he no longer had "deviant sexual interests in male children" but he had provided no evidence of this.

The social work report on him said he showed little to no remorse or insight, the sheriff said.

Peter – not his real name – is one of three men who gave evidence against Sherland in May.

He was 16 when he came into Sherland's orbit through his school and community centre in Renfrewshire.

At the time, Sherland was in his 30s and known as Douglas Stuart Hammond.

He worked as an education community worker for the old Strathclyde Regional Council.

Peter, now 52, told a jury during the trial that he was assaulted when he visited the predator's home in Stock Street, Paisley, in 1990.

He told the BBC that - after 35 years of silence - he reported it to police after discussing the incident with a mental health worker.

"I'll be honest with you, it's really hard to explain for me because I'm really just getting a grip of it myself," he said.

"I had a lot of personal problems, but the counsellor said that maybe [the assault] was at the root of it all.

"She said: 'The fact that you've got all that guilt and all that, I don't know, shame…' And she suggested that I report it. So I did."

Peter said: "I didn't realise at the time that he was still alive. I'll be perfectly honest with you. So it was kind of a shot in the dark I suppose."

He said his reason for speaking out was because he believes other young boys were abused by the man he knew as Hammond. He urged them to come forward.

"He is a deceitful man," Peter said.

"He used his intelligence to plot a path for himself.

"I feel relieved that I've done it, that I reported it and went through the full process.

"It's caused me grief, but it's also lifted a good bit off my shoulders."

A year after his assault of Peter, Sherland - then known as Hammond - was convicted of abusing two boys.

His earlier trial heard that as many as 200 children had visited his home.

In the mid-1990s, Hammond changed his name to Marc Sherland.

This change took place before the introduction of the sex offenders register in 1997.

As Sherland, he reinvented himself as a poet and, in 2020, he became president of the Robert Burns World Federation.

The organisation is a literary society that promotes the Bard's work through education and connections between Burns Clubs.

Sherland promoted Burns' work by attending formal events, hosting school poetry competitions and speaking at Holyrood's Cross-Party Group on the Scots Language.

In 2014, he also made an appearance on a special edition of BBC's The One Show ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he read his own poetry live on television in support of the Better Together campaign.

Sherland's past as Hammond was uncovered by the Sunday Mail in 2024.

Peter and two other men reported attacks by Sherland in 2024 and 2025.

In May, after a trial at Paisley Sheriff Court, Sherland was convicted of indecently assaulting two boys – aged between 13 and 16 – and another who was over 18.

The court heard he had come across his victims through his work at the former Cherrie Centre, a community complex in Renfrew.

Anne Marie Hicks, procurator fiscal for North Strathclyde, said he "abused his position as a youth worker to sexually abuse vulnerable children".

She said: "This was a sustained pattern of offending against three boys. He exploited the trust placed in him by the victims, using his role and familiarity with them to commit these offences.

"I would like to acknowledge the courage shown by the victims in coming forward and giving evidence.

"Their willingness to speak about what Sherland did to them was instrumental in securing this conviction."