A Muslim community leader who sexually abused girls aged 14 and 15 has been jailed for nearly four years.

A Muslim community leader who sexually abused girls aged 14 and 15 has been jailed for nearly four years.

Farooq Hussain was jailed for 45 months after a jury found him guilty at Perth Sheriff Court.

Jailing the well-known charity worker, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told him that he took into account that he had tried to blacken his young victims' names.

Hussain, a married father-of-three, will also face a further 30-month extended period on licence at the end of his jail term and will remain on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

Sheriff Foulis noted that the girls had been doing casual work for the restaurateur and that he had abused a position of trust.

He said: "You were convicted, in my opinion, on the clearest and most compelling evidence. As a result of going to trial the two girls were required to give evidence.

"You not only required your victim to give evidence, but you attempted to give an innocent explanation for what happened. You did that by besmirching the character of your victim by accusing her of behaviour inappropriate for any female, but particularly for a female of her age."

Hussain had claimed that his DNA was found on saliva taken from one victim's breast because she had lifted her top and pushed it into his mouth.

Sheriff Foulis said: "The jury found you guilty of three charges which are of an extremely serious nature. They involved indecent assaults by you - a man in your fifties - on girls in their early to mid-teens."

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, presented a large bundle of testimonials to the court from people praising Hussain's charity and Muslim community work.

Mr Holmes said: "He had charitable works and his position in the community. That has been lost and can never be recovered."

The jury at Perth Sheriff Court had earlier found Hussain, 56, from Perth, guilty of a catalogue of abuse spanning a five-year period.

Hussain was a driving force in the Perth mosque and raised funds at an event after the Pakistan earthquake.

He sexually abused a 15-year-old girl at the Al Farooq restaurant he owned in Perth city centre on November 26 2002 by groping and fondling her then pushing her against a filing cabinet and touching her breasts.

In July last year he indecently assaulted a 14-year-old girl at an address in Crieff Road, Perth, and then attacked her again at New Row, Perth, on August 4.

His most recent victim, now aged 15, wept as she told the court Hussain forced himself upon her while she was helping him decorate a flat.

Outside the court, the father of one victim said he was pleased the jury had "seen through his lies".