Paedo is free to roam this Christmas time
Perv avoids jail after trying to hook up with 14-year-old
An East Kilbride man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for a “cowardly and horrific”Boxing Day assault on his partner.
Repeat offender Gordon Campbell, 51, of Netherton Road, was found guilty of hitting the woman on the head and face with a bottle.
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that he’d been put on a programme for domestic violence offenders only the previous year.
Sheriff Daniel Kelly told Campbell on Friday:“That has not prevented this assault. There is no alternative to custody for such a violent and serious act.”
Campbell’s victim told jurors she thought her partner was going to kill her. She crawled out of his flat screaming for help after he hit her twice with a bottle.
The court heard the couple had been out on Christmas Day and argued on their way back to his flat.
The victim said Campbell hit her first on the back of the head. She heard glass smashing and when she turned round he struck her again on the face.
She told the court how she was knocked to the floor and crawled to the door, out on to the landing, where she screamed for help – but, being 3.30am, only one neighbour opened her door.
On seeing the victim’s bloodied state, the woman screamed and promptly slammed her door shut.
However, someone did contact the police.
Campbell was seen trying to coax his victim back into the flat, but she was heard saying:“You’ve hurt me too bad this time.”
There was blood on the walls of the close, the banister and even door handles.
One witness said:“The close looked like a murder scene the next day.”
The victim was taken to hospital where stitches were put in her wounds.
Summing up at the end of the trial, prosecutor Jennifer McLaren urged the jury to convict Campbell of the “cowardly and horrific”assault.
Campbell denied attacking his partner, with whom he’d been in a relationship for nearly four years.
He claimed he was asleep at the time of the alleged assault. She must have tripped and injured herself.
Defence agent Stephen McQuillan said Campbell, who has five children with previous partners, stood to lose his home if jailed as the mortgage is outstanding.
Mr McQuillan also told the court that his client helps care for his elderly father on a daily basis.
Sheriff Kelly expressed concern at a report in which Campbell was assessed as having shown“a propensity for serious physical violence”.
The sheriff added:“Social workers are of the view that you have the capacity to cause serious harm again in the future and that this is heightened through excessive alcohol misuse.”
Campbell was also served with a non-harassment order which bans him from contacting his victim for five years.
MIKE MCQUAID
One half of East Kilbride’s ‘brothers Grim’ has avoided jail after admitting trying to hook up with what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl for sex.
William Kennedy was duped by a group of online paedophile hunters just weeks after younger brother Christopher was convicted of the same disgusting predilections.
Appearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, William Kennedy was hit with a three-year supervision order and placed on the sex offenders register for the same period.
Sheriff Ray Small told first-time offender: “Please understand that custody would be appropriate here.
“It’s only because of your lack of a record and various health difficulties that I am persuaded not to impose it.
“This is a direct alternative to custody and, apart from punishment, is an attempt to ensure this type of behaviour is not repeated.”
Kennedy was told he must have no unsupervised contact with children under-16 and that he would have restrictions on his Internet use.
Defence agent Gerry McGuire said his client didn’t “fully comprehend” the serious nature of the offences.
However, he was “fully prepared” to comply with any communitybased order made by the court.
Sheriff Ray said he must attend a groupwork programme for sex offenders.
Earlier this year his brother Christopher, 31, was also spared jail after he admitted indecent communications with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
He too had been duped by a separate vigilante group.
The News previously shone a light on the pair’s deplorable crimes and the homelife they shared in St Leonards that neighbours called “mayhem”.
Kennedy admitted sending sexual messages and an explicit photograph to ‘Dani’ in July last year, attempting to arrange a meeting with the ‘child’ in order to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
In the online sting against Kennedy, he said it was “my fault, a mistake” when he sent a picture of his penis to who he knew to be an underage girl.
The Child Protectors Scotland member replied: “How could sending a picture of your penis to a 14-year-old be a mistake?”
Kennedy said: “She turned 15 on Friday, she told me.”
He had sent a message saying:,“I can’t believe I’m going out with a 14-year-old babe. I bet you can’t believe you’re going out with a 34-year-old?”
Responding during the snare, Kennedy said: “I didn’t even mean it.”
The member added: “When you arranged to meet you asked, ‘would you let me put my penis up your a**e?’”
Looking distressed Kennedy then sits down on his front step clutching his rib cage, saying “I can’t breathe”.