Judge hits out at early release of paedophile
MICHAEL HOWIE
THE system of automatic early release for convicted sex offenders came under fire yesterday from one of Scotland's top judges as he imposed a 16-year extended sentence on a paedophile.
Lord Hardie also demanded sufficient resources to ensure prisoners undergo a thorough risk assessment before they are released into the community.
He spoke out after it was revealed that James Steele groomed a family while he was on licence for child abuse, so he could prey on their 12-year-old son.
The 28-year-old, from Cambuslang, had been sentenced to eight years in September, 2000, for sexually attacking two youngsters.
In addition, the then judge gave him an extended sentence of four years to be served in the community, while he was being monitored by social workers and police.
Steele was released after serving four years and eight months in prison. Eight months later he befriended the family of his next victim under the noses of social workers and police, despite the fact he had agreed as a condition of release that he should never be alone with children.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that the family had no idea that Steele was a convicted paedophile and trusted him implicitly until social workers warned them not to allow him near the boy.
But the warning came too late because Steele had already sexually abused the 12-year-old two weeks before.
The case yesterday prompted Lord Hardie to call for prisoners to be released early only after they had served a substantial part of their sentences and a risk assessment had been undertaken.
Proposals to end the system of automatic early release, introduced in 1993, have already been put forward by the Scottish Executive and will be examined by MSPs.
Lord Hardie said: "It is clear that any decision to release prisoners must be based upon an assessment of risk undertaken after the prisoner has completed a substantial part of the sentence imposed by the court.
"Such decisions cannot be taken when sentence is pronounced. Moreover, adequate resources must be provided to any alternative system to ensure full risk assessments and proper monitoring following release to be undertaken.
"The absence of such safeguards will result in the public being exposed to unacceptable risks from prisoners released prior to the end of the sentence imposed in them."
Lord Hardie imposed the latest sentence on Steele - the 16-year extended term - to comprise six years behind bars and 10 years being supervised on licence.
An Executive spokesman said: "Scottish ministers have made clear their determination to end the current system for automatically releasing offenders and to replace it with a new regime which has public safety at its heart."
Related topics
Legal Issues http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=859
