A WOMAN who was sexually abused along with her sisters three decades ago has blasted judges for reducing her attacker’s punishment.

James McCann, 66, of Shakespeare Avenue, Clydebank, was jailed for 10 years in April 2018 for five serious offences.

He was convicted by a jury of indecency charges against the three girls.

But last week McCann appealed both the conviction and the sentence to the High Court.

Though three judges let the conviction stand, they reduced the punishment from 10 years to six. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed that four years imposed on the fifth charge would now be concurrent to those on the other charges.

One of McCann’s victims said she was angry that he had more rights than victims.

The woman, who cannot be identified, told the Post: “I’m relieved it’s all over and I can finally put a line under it.

“But I’m angry that he gets to appeal against his sentence and convictions. Where are the victim’s rights?

“We should be able to say ‘no, you can’t appeal’.

“He will never be given enough time for what happened to us. I am not the same person I used to be.

“I don’t go out on my own any more and certainly won’t go to Clydebank on my own due to suffering from stress and anxiety.”

One of McCann’s victims told his trial that she was scared to tell her mother what was happening to her.

The woman sobbed as she said the abuse she suffered from McCann began when she was just four years old.

McCann would touch her and get her to watch porn videos and would tell her: “That’s what boys and girls do.”

She told the court: “I thought it was my fault. I felt ashamed and felt dirty.”

Prosecutors claimed that McCann had carried out a systematic course of criminal conduct against the youngsters, committing offences that had “life changing effects”.

Another victim said she did not report the abuse because “I wanted to feel normal” but eventually went to the police in 2015 to report what McCann had done to her.

The judge in the trial, Lord Summers, told McCann that although his his crimes were in the past, “the time has come when you must take responsibility for what you did”.

Speaking after McCann was jailed, one of his victims told the Post she hoped their efforts would help others speak up.

She said: “I hope now that he is going to sleep at night feeling scared the same way we were when we were children.

“I am delighted with the result and finally he is being punished for abusing my sisters and me when we were children. My sister reported years ago she was being abused but nobody believed her.

“She was constantly called a liar from relatives, friends and people in authority as my younger sister and I were too scared to say anything.

“Hopefully this case may help others to find their voice and come forward and speak out if they were in the same situation that we were in when we were younger.”

The appeal last week was heard by the Lord Justice General, Lord Carloway, Lord Drummond Young and Lord Turnbull. The reasons for the appeal and the decision have not been published.