THE BEAST NEXTDOOR
Outrage after paedophile was rehoused near young children
A Rutherglen grandmother has slammed the authorities for housing a paedophile within a block of flats where several young children live.
Kaff Mcdonald says she is disgusted that Samantha Smith – who was jailed for three years last week – was housed in the same block of flats as her granddaughter while awaiting sentencing for serious sex offences.
Smith was found guilty of sexually abusing two young children at Hamilton Sheriff Court last month.
The 30-year-old was convicted of repeatedly preying on a boy aged five and a three-year-old girl at a house in East Kilbride between 2009 and 2014.
Smith caused a scene as she was sentenced, telling Sheriff Douglas Brown: “Paedophiles should be hung, not put in jail. If I’m a paedophile, hang me.”
At her trial she had yelled, “I’m not a beast”, after a jury found her guilty.
Now the families who live on Woodend Road are demanding to know why Smith was housed in Fernhill and within close proximity to their children after being moved from
her native Blantyre for her own safety.
Kaff told the Reformer that residents had their suspicions about Smith after she moved into their building on October 16, but were only certain when she was jailed last week.
She said:“My daughter and her partner read about the court case and one day they saw her in Fernhill.
“But they weren’t 100 per cent sure it was the same person. She always had a cap pulled down over her face. My daughter passed her twice in the close and was said afterwards,‘it’s her, it’s her’.”
The family’s suspicions were raised further when they read that Smith had been hounded out of her home in Blantyre after people there learned of her conviction.
Police led her away from the town after a baying crowd gathered at her address.
Kaff added:“My daughter called me crying saying,‘she has moved into my close’and that she wanted to move out.
“She was so upset that someone like that was allowed to move in.
“My daughter has a baby and there are other children in the close so it was a big worry to us. It makes you wonder how many other sick people are being put in the scheme.”
Kaff raised her concerns with a local councillor and was awaiting a response when Smith was jailed. The grandmother says she was reluctant to share her suspicions with others for fear of mistaken identity.
Liam Purdie, chief social worker at South Lanarkshire Council, said:“Sex offenders are monitored in the community under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) which involve the police service, local authorities, the NHS, Scottish Prison Service and other partners.
“None of the partners engaged in MAPPA will comment on specific cases or individuals.
“The management of sex offenders in the community is a particularly sensitive and complex area of work.”
But he added:“Public safety is always the main priority in all cases.
“Whilst it remains the main priority, a balance is required between public safety and the right of the individual.
“All aspects of cases are carefully considered at every stage of the process, from psychological and risk assessments to places of residence and potential security issues. “A number of measures can be put in place to manage offenders in the community and these are monitored by dedicated police officers and officials from partner organisations.”