WHY WAS HE LET OUT?
As psycho-killer McIntosh gets locked up behind bars until he dies, family of dog-walk victim Linda ask ..
A CONVICTED killer was yesterday told he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for trying to murder a woman while on home leave from prison. A lifelong restriction order was imposed on Robbie McIntosh, who has “psychopathic personality traits”. The husband of a dog walker he nearly battered to death
with a dumbbell said he must remain behind bars until he dies.
As he stood on the steps of the High Court in Aberdeen with his shattered wife Linda, Matt McDonald said: “We are confident the judgment passed down on McIntosh will hopefully mean that life means life.
“The attack on my wife changed our life dramatically.
“However, we’re confident with the continued support from our family and friends we’ll get through this.
“In the months following the attack, our life has been an emotional rollercoaster and we aren’t sure when this nightmare part will end.
“Part of this closure will be helped by the assurances we’ve received from the relevant bodies who are investigating the terms of his release.”
Matt, of Dundee, said the family would continue to seek answers as to why McIntosh was roaming free and almost murdered again.
He said: “We are hopeful that through this process we will get answers to the straight-forward questions we’ve raised because make no mistake, this could have happened to anybody.”
Linda, 52, was pounced on by McIntosh as she walked the family dog in Dundee’s Templeton Woods in broad daylight last August.
McIntosh, 32, had been jailed for life in 2002 for stabbing dog walker Anne Nicoll to death on Dundee Law in 2001, when he was 15.
But he was out of Castle Huntly prison, being prepared for possible freedom, when he attacked Linda. He was days away from a parole hearing.
Passing sentence, judge Lord Arthurson told him he’d committed “a savage attack”, striking Linda repeatedly on the head and body with a dumbbell.
He told him: “Throughout the attack, which was undoubtedly a murderous one, you remained impervious to her pleas for mercy.
“As she lay on the ground drifting in and out of consciousness, you dragged her from the path into the woods.”
Linda’s screams alerted other dog walkers and he was seen crouching and leaning over her as she lay on the ground, blood
running into her eyes and ears. He then fled. As people got help, McIntosh sent a text to a friend moaning that he’d run out of cigarettes.
Once at his mother Heather’s home in nearby Bridgefoot, he cleaned the clothes he’d had on in her washing machine.
Linda’s injuries were substantial. She suffered five scalp wounds and two skull fractures and her thumb was broken into several pieces.
Her wounds will leave permanent scarring. She suffers flashbacks and nightmares.
The Daily Record obtained CCTV footage which showed McIntosh walking to Templeton Woods to carry out the attack on Linda.
He had been allowed leave on August 2 last year, which was the 16th anniversary of Anne’s murder. He was seen on CCTV five days later leaving his mother’s house carrying a rucksack. He was later seen strolling home.
Lord Arthurson said reports found McIntosh presented a high risk of serious violence and psychological harm to the public – particularly to women.
It added that the level of physical harm he presented was “potentially life-threatening”.
The judge said Linda’s attempted murder and Anne’s murder left him in no doubt that the criteria for a lifelong restriction order had been met.
But the report said that “all professionals” involved in monitoring McIntosh had been shocked that he’d struck again.
Lord Arthurson handed him another life sentence and imposed the lifelong restriction on him. He must serve a minimum of five years before he can be considered for parole.
He will only be released when he is judged to no longer be a risk to the public.
He will then be monitored for the rest of his life.
Lord Arthurson told McIntosh: “When you are released – if indeed you are ever released at all – is in law a matter for the parole board.”
Earlier, Chris Fyffe, defending, said McIntosh’s guilty plea to attempted murder was “the only expression of remorse available to him”.
Detective Inspector Tom Leonard paid tribute to Linda and her family and thanked those who came to her aid at the scene, which allowed McIntosh to be identified and caught quickly.
He said: “We welcome the sentencing and Robbie McIntosh must now face the consequences of his terrible actions.”
Linda’s husband Matt also said the family wished to “spare a thought” for Anne’s family.
Last year, the Record revealed systemic failures around the monitoring of McIntosh.
We also exposed how he’d carried out a placement at a charity for at-risk youngsters.
Locals in Bridgefoot warned authorities about him weeks before he attacked Linda.
McIntosh was staying in the sleepy village with his mother when on home leave.
Residents told how he prowled the streets at night, often standing outside homes in the shadows whenever he was released into the community on work placements, preparing for parole.
He would also sit by an ornamental fire in his back garden into the early hours of the morning “in a hypnotic state.”
They were so concerned they highlighted their fears to SNP councillor Beth Whiteside, who took their warnings to Angus Council.
But the council reassured her and the community that McIntosh was “being monitored” by “multiple” agencies.
A resident told us: “It’s too little, too late as far as we are concerned.
“We warned the council about what he was up to during home visits and they reassured us that he posed no risk and was being constantly monitored.
“But it obviously didn’t happen because he was free to nearly kill a woman.
“Why was a person as dangerous and unhinged as this allowed out in the first place?
“He killed someone when he was 15. He’s obviously got serious issues.
“No one in the village could sleep easily at night when he was out.”
The Record also revealed how he did work experience at the Kibble Works depot in Paisley while he was in Greenock prison in 2016.
Staff at the charity, who provide support and work experience for disadvantaged children and young adults, only realised who McIntosh was after he began bragging to teenagers about his murder conviction.
A source said: “It was completely inappropriate.
“We have vulnerable young kids in there – boys and girls, some with learning difficulties and other issues.
“So far as I know, none of the frontline staff was informed of who this guy was.
“The first we knew of it was when the teenagers started telling us McIntosh was boasting about being a murderer.”
We warned the council and they reassured us that he posed no risk VILLAGE RESIDENT