Kevin O’Gorman was convicted this month of abusing young male students at Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt universities

A university professor convicted of serial sex crimes against his male students had previously quit a Catholic training college after he was accused of molesting trainee priests.

Kevin O’Gorman, 45, was found guilty this month of 14 offences against eight men in their early twenties over 11 years, beginning in 2006.

During that time he was a senior academic at Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt universities, but new evidence shows that his misconduct goes three years further back, to when he was about to qualify as a deacon in the Catholic Church.

The allegations of groping and coercion of young men were never reported to police, raising further concerns of repeated institutional failure to prevent a serial sex criminal from offending.

Within months of quitting the Scots