A sex offender who subjected a young boy to repeated abuse while he was also a child was spared a jail sentence today. During the abuse he shouted, swore and threatened the child victim and compelled him to remove his lower clothing before sex acts were carried out. Sex abuser narrowly avoids jailA judge at the High Court in Edinburgh today imposed a community payback order on Laing and ordered he carry out 300 hours unpaid work. He said that Laing “only narrowly avoided” a jail sentence and said that if he was found to have breached the non custodial sentence imposed on him that can be revoked and he can be imprisoned. Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe said that Laing was “under no illusion” that a sentencing option available to the court was the imposition of a jail sentence.