One of the country’s worst sex offenders secretly changed his identity in a bid to hide his past and reinvent himself as a business owner and family man.
Steven Perrie, from Angus, paid £42.44 to change his name legally by deed poll to Steven MacDonald and was living with a woman and her child when social workers found out.
An urgent investigation was carried out and Perrie was found to have broken numerous strict restrictions imposed on him in court.
His latest crimes came to light after more than a year under his new identity.
He was back in court last week and admitted offences including having contact with children and defying a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).
He has been remanded and told to expect a jail sentence.
Solicitor Scott Norrie told Dundee Sheriff Court: “Mr MacDonald has gone through the change of name process legally some time ago. His previous name was Perrie.
“Despite the failings he has accepted, he has attempted to make a new life. The change of name is perhaps one sign of that.
“It could also be interpreted as trying to hide himself because there was adverse publicity in the past because of his previous convictions.”
Perrie, 56, from Montrose, admitted failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements by having a Barclays Mastercard between May 1 2019 and November 19 2020.
He admitted breaking a ban on having contact with children numerous times between September 2019 and November last year.
Parent’s shock
The child’s parent, who cannot be named, said: “Plain clothes officers came along and asked him to come with them.
“He just went without asking why, which I thought was odd. It was a shock to discover what he had been involved in.
“When he got arrested, I spoke to the police.
“They searched all my stuff – my car and van, which he had driven, for devices and things like that.
“Of course I didn’t know about it. He wasn’t near my kids long enough to do anything but he also did work for other people who have children.
“He seemed like a nice and friendly guy. I met him through Facebook.”
Perrie also admitted breaking the SOPO by engaging in a relationship with a 39-year-old woman in Aberdeen and Brechin without informing the offender management unit.
Finally, he broke the strict order – put in place to try and protect the public – by owning a Facebook Portal TV device last November.
He again failed to tell the offender management unit and claimed he bought it for his dying mother in Tenerife.
The court was told a search of Perrie’s home was carried out over suspicions he had child abuse material and the bank card in his new name was discovered.
Fiscal depute Lora Apostolova said Perrie was operating a building company under his new name.
Mr Norrie told the court that his client was made subject to a highly restrictive SOPO at Forfar Sheriff Court after being released from an eight year prison sentence.
The SOPO runs until September 2024.
Sheriff’s concern
Sheriff Richard MacFarlane said: “It is a significant thing to do, changing your name.
“That went right through to today, when it still hadn’t been changed on court papers. Did he not think to tell anyone?
“You are a concern to the criminal justice system. Your offending goes back to 2003 and shows a course of conduct you have persisted in over the years.
“You have to be under absolutely no illusion that I’m very much of a view that a custodial sentence is appropriate for these five charges.
“You have been managed so much over the years that I am striving to find out why you cannot comply with simple and innocuous requirements.”
Sentence was deferred and Perrie was remanded in custody for reports.
Perrie was jailed in 2004 for being caught with a record breaking haul of child abuse material, including 400,000 images and 16,000 video clips.
The builder was jailed again for 36 months in 2005 for similar offences.
When he was caught for a third time he was jailed for eight years in 2012 and Judge Lord Uist told him the material he was found with was “disgusting and repulsive.”
Perrie, who is on the sex offenders register for life, was reported to the police by a girlfriend after she found a cache of indecent images.
