A vile sex beast is behind bars after being convicted of raping a seven-year-old girl at a secluded Scottish cottage.

Peter Carter, 49, was remanded in custody following a trial at the High Court in Paisley.

He now faces a lengthy jail term for abusing the youngster and another seven-year-old girl over a six-and-a-half-year period.

The abuse took place at his home, which he said could only be reached by Jeep or 4x4.

The former engineer abused the youngsters in the mid 2000s at the remote farmhouse in Argyll.

He left his native Yorkshire, where he had lived in Halifax and Huddersfield, 19 years ago and settled north of the border.

He then preyed on the youngsters, starting to abuse the older of the two girls first.

The court heard he raped her at his secluded home, which he chillingly told the jury was “surrounded by 6,000 acres of nothing.”

He said the small home was so isolated it was seven-miles away from the nearest town and could only be reached by a farm track road.

And he said that road up to his property was so treacherous and rocky it had previously broken cars which had driven along it.

Callous Carter denied he’d done anything wrong and went on trial on four sex assault charges, three in relation to the older girl and one involving the younger girl.

He forced both girls to take the stand to give evidence against him and they testified via a video link between the High Court in Paisley and Oban Sheriff Court.

The older girl told the court that, when police interviewed her about Carter’s abuse, she was unable to say what had happened to her out loud.

She told the eight men and seven women of the jury that she scribbled details of the sex assaults on a piece of paper.

She explained: “It was easier for me to write them down than say them.

“I was finding it very hard to get the words out.”

Carter denied he’d assaulted the young girls, telling the jury that he had only ever scratched the older girl’s back and helped the younger girl into her swimsuit.

The father, who himself has a young daughter and son, said his victims were lying about what happened.

He said he could not explain why the girls had lied about the events as he had not seen them in so long.

And he said his family were so sure of his innocence that he was still allowed to see his nieces and nephews.

But despite his pleas of innocence a jury found him guilty by majority.

They took just two hours and 12 minutes to convict him of all four charges.

He raped the older girl at the cottage and used lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards her there.

He also repeatedly sexually assaulted her by placing his arms round her and feeling her body parts under her clothing.

Carter, who runs his own carpentry business, also sexually assaulted the younger girl at his home when she was just seven, by touching her inappropriately.

Trial Judge John Beckett QC called for Carter to be assessed by social workers and adjourned sentencing until next month at the High Court in Glasgow.