Serial sex offender carried out attack on vulnerable inmate

COURT: Questions asked after man with 40-year history of abuse was placed in same cell

Prison chiefs and the Scottish Government came under attack yesterday after a notorious Dundee sex offender admitted carrying out a sex attack on a “vulnerable” fellow inmate in Perth Prison.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that serial sex offender Jack McKay gained access to his victim because of a lack of prison space.

McKay, 61, who has been committing sexual offences for more than 40 years, pinned the man to a bed and sexually abused him on July 7, the court heard.

Both the prosecution and the defence said questions had to be asked about the prison’s decision to place the two men in proximity when McKay was known to be a danger to younger men.

Solicitor Gary Fowlis, defending, said: “I question the wisdom of housing Mr McKay with someone like the prisoner they did, given his history.

“I know there are problems with housing protection prisoners in Perth and I don’t think the powers that be in the Scottish Government are prepared to spend the money to deal with it.

“I am not making any excuses for his behaviour, but I do question the wisdom.”

Depute fiscal John Malpass said McKay’s victim was more than 30 years younger than him and was serving a sentence for crimes of dishonesty and drug offences. He had no history of sexual offending.

McKay was jailed for 32 months earlier this year after he repeatedly confronted a boy while naked from the waist down. It is understood he was only wearing a Dundee United shirt on some occasions.

Mr Fowlis said: “He is not a young man, but he has been committing these offences since he was a young man. He accepts what he did was wrong.

“He has a very serious record. He clearly has a very major problem.

“He is ashamed of his behaviour. He has been struggling again to control his urges.”

McKay’s first sexual offence was committed in 1976 and he has more than a dozen convictions of a similar nature since, including two from the High Court.

He is considered to be a danger to the public and was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order in 2012. Sentence was deferred yesterday by Sheriff William Wood.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “We do not comment on individual prisoners.”

I question the wisdom of housing Mr McKay with someone like the prisoner they did, given his history. GARY FOWLIS