She also noted that Hoy had lengthy Army service which had left him struggling with the effects of post traumatic stress disorder.
Hoy was 12 when he began committing sex crimes in 1986 against a nine-year-old girl with the abuse escalating into repeated rapes.
His second victim was aged seven when he began preying on her in 1988 and she too became the target for repeated rapes.
A third girl was indecently assaulted by him at a house in Edinburgh on two occasions when she was aged between nine and 13.
Hoy had denied the 11 charges of rape, indecent conduct and indecent assault. He was found guilty following a trial.
He was acquitted of a further rape charge against a girl aged 14 or 15 allegedly committed at another address in Edinburgh between 2004 and 2006.
At his trial he lodged a special defence of alibi which stated that for two periods in 2004 he was stationed with the Army in Aberdeenshire at Balmoral, the Queen’s residence in Scotland.
He told the court: “We were part of the Queen’s royal guard at Balmoral so it was pomp and circumstance, but also with guard duties.”
His first victim told jurors at his trial that she was subjected to repeated abuse. She said: “I was a little girl. I was scared. I was living in terror some days.”
His second victim told the court: “I didn’t have a childhood. My childhood was taken away from.”
Hoy was placed on the sex offender’s register indefinitely.