HE befriended families and earned their trust so he could groom and prey on three young boys over a more than 20-year period.
And on Thursday, sexual predator David Allen McCorriston, now 57, was jailed for a maximum of 11 years and six months for a pattern of heinous crimes described as a "gross breach of trust".
The Belmont man, who is the younger brother of convicted rapist Warren John McCorriston, groomed the young boys - teaching them to drive, taking them camping and plying them with alcohol - before repeatedly sexually and indecently assaulted them.
Both McCorriston brothers were charged by detectives from Strike Force Arapaima, established in 2019 to re-examine the investigation into the unsolved disappearances and suspected murders of Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson in 1979 and Gordana Kotevski in 1994. Warren McCorriston, a former resort manager, was last year jailed for a maximum of eight-and-a-half years for offences against three women between 1979 and 1999. He will be eligible for parole in 2024.
Meanwhile, David McCorriston won't be out until at least 2028. He pleaded guilty to 19 offences, including eight counts of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16, and on Thursday was jailed for a maximum of 11 years and six months, with a non-parole period of six years and 11 months.
In 1987, David McCorriston was aged in his early 20s and had not long been released from jail for sexual assault when he befriended a 14-year-old boy.
David McCorriston would let the boy drive his car and stay at his house and gave him alcohol before repeatedly sexually and indecently assaulting the boy.
In 1990, he befriended the family of another boy, 12, who came over to his house about every fortnight where was regularly sexually and indecently assaulted.
And in 2008, David McCorriston was involved with the Scouts and befriended another family that he would take camping.
The family were told by other members of the Scouts that they were concerned about David McCorriston being around children.
The father of his next victim even threatened David McCorriston that if he ever touched his son he would kill him. Despite promising he never would, David McCorriston touched the boy's genitals after insisting on towelling him off.
"It was a gross breach of trust," Judge Sharron Norton said. "The offender had become a close family friend and had said he would never touch the children. He was befriended by the family and used that friendship to gain access to the boy."
