This evil, mad man... freed by soft justice to try to kill me
A GRANDMOTHER savagely attacked by a convicted murderer on home leave from prison has branded the justice system ‘too soft’.
Robbie McIntosh battered dogwalker Linda McDonald, 53, with a dumbbell only five days after being released.
McIntosh, 32, was given a life term for murder in 2002 after killing Anne Nicoll, 34, in a cannabis-fuelled attack in Dundee when only 15.
He was granted home leave in the summer of last year but attacked Mrs McDonald in woods in the city, sparking a political row over why such a violent offender had been freed to strike again. The Mail revealed last month that a report due to be published found the assault was ‘preventable’ and there was a failure to monitor McIntosh.
Branding him an ‘evil, mad man’, Mrs McDonald claimed that risk assessments carried out by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) on murderers who are set to be released are not ‘robust’. She said: ‘If they were robust this wouldn’t have happened. I feel the law is too soft.
‘I have thought since this happened, “Why are you giving these type of killers a second chance? Surely the gamble is too high”.’
She is still receiving therapy and suffers flashbacks and nightmares, and carries a personal alarm when walking her dog.
She told STV News: ‘He’s [McIntosh] just an evil, mad man. I hope to God they don’t decide in 15 years to give him another chance because, who knows, another generation will not know my story, they won’t know Anne Nicoll’s story.’
A forthcoming report on the McIntosh scandal is the result of a case review being compiled by Kathryn Lindsay, chief social work officer for Angus, who is chairman of the local MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) group.
A source close to the probe said: ‘It will apportion blame and it will say that it was preventable.
‘In particular, there will be criticism of the way McIntosh was monitored – basically he wasn’t. He was left to his own devices.’
At the High Court in Edinburgh in October last year, McIntosh admitted attempted murder. In February, he was jailed for an ‘indeterminate’ period and must serve at least five years before applying for parole.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has rejected calls for a review of the policy on home leave for killers.
Last night, an SPS spokesman said: ‘We have cooperated with the MAPPA review and our sympathies are with Mrs McDonald.’
An Angus Council spokesman said: ‘A significant case review is currently being carried out which will consider the circumstances of McIntosh’s offence with a view to identifying any necessary improvements to public protection arrangements.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We’re determined to ensure any lessons from specific cases are learned and used to make the system even more robust.’