Question marks have been raised over the rehabilitation of offenders in Fife after a convicted paedophile was hounded out of two communities in the space of just 24 hours.
Around 60 protestors gathered outside a property in Cowdenbeath’s Blamey Crescent on Wednesday after rumours swept the community a sex offender had been given accommodation there.
But that was followed by similar scenes in Kirkcaldy’s Dunearn Drive on Thursday, when it became apparent the same man was to be rehoused in a block of flats there.
The man was moved on again, but locals in Kirkcaldy are angry about the local authority’s decision to put him in a flat in close proximity to two schools and a well-used community centre.
“I’m not sure what they (the council) are thinking about,” one local, who did not wish to be named, told The Courier.
“We’re told they’ve got to go somewhere, but nobody wants this sort of individual in beside us.
“Kids go past here and up to the shops all the time and who knows what might happen?”
The man previously served a prison sentence after admitting two charges of attempting to send sexual written communications to underage girls in 2018.
He was caught by a vigilante group after being identified by his partner because she recognised his genitals in photos he sent to decoys posing as underage girls.
He thought he was “propositioning” girls aged 12 and 13 online – but was in fact talking to “decoys” from the Child Protectors Scotland paedophile hunter group.
He sent two of their decoys – one pretending to be a 12-year-old girl, the other pretending to be 13 – pictures of his penis during sordid online chats.
The group later confronted him on his doorstep in Glenrothes in a sting that was broadcast over Facebook and viewed by thousands of people.
Around a dozen police officers were called to the first protest in Cowdenbeath on Wednesday and police condemned the throwing of missiles at the property – some of which reportedly hit officers – as “unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for Fife Council stressed that the local authority has a “duty to accommodate offenders”.
“This is done in line with national policy outlined in the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2005 and through a Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA),” they added.
“The key agencies involved in MAPPA are Fife Council, Police Scotland, NHS Fife and the Scottish Prison Service.
“We all use the National Accommodation Strategy for Sex Offenders and through this process levels of risk are carefully assessed, risk management strategies are put in place and on-going monitoring is undertaken.”
