Paedophile changed name to hide his past offences

One of the country’s worst sex offenders secretly changed his identity in a bid to hide his sickening past.

Paedophile Steven Perrie changed his name after being jailed for a number of high-profile sex crimes including having a record haul of child abuse images.

Perrie – who paid £42.44 to change his name legally by deed poll to Steven Macdonald – was living with a woman and her child when social workers found out.

After an urgent investigation, he was found to have broken numerous strict restrictions which had been imposed on him in court.

His latest crimes came to light after more than a year under his new identity when he had to change his banking details. He was back in court last week and admitted a number of offences including having contact with children and defying a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

Perrie, 56, from Montrose, admitted failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements by having a Barclays Mastercard between May 1, 2019, and November 19, 2020.

He also admitted breaking a ban on having contact with children by spending time with a business associate’s sixyear-old son numerous times between September 2019 and November last year.

The business associate, who cannot be named, said: “We were both building a house when plain clothes officers came along and asked him to come with them.

“He just went without asking why, which I thought was odd. It was a shock to discover what he had been involved in. When he got arrested, I spoke to the police. They searched all my stuff – my car and van, which he had driven, for devices and things like that. Everybody knows he worked with me and people ask if I knew about it.

“Of course I didn’t know about it. He wasn’t near my kids long enough to do anything but he also did work for other people who have children.

“He seemed like a nice guy. I met him through Facebook. He did jobs with me and met a lot of people through work. I think he was able to con people.”

Perrie also admitted breaking the SOPO by engaging in a relationship with a 39-year-old woman in Aberdeen and Brechin without informing the offender management unit.

That was a relationship Perrie rekindled from previously, shortly after the woman had a child with

another man. He broke the SOPO by having ongoing contact with that child.

Finally, he broke the ultra-strict order – put in place to try to protect the public – by owning a Facebook Portal TV device last November. He again failed to tell the offender

management unit and claimed he bought it for his dying mother in Tenerife.

The court was told that a search of Perrie’s home was carried out over suspicions he had child abuse images and the bank card in his new name was discovered. Fiscal depute Lora

Apostolova said Perrie was operating a building company under his new name and spent time regularly in the home of a colleague with a young son even though he knew he was banned from having contact with children.

The court was told that Perrie was made subject to a highly restrictive SOPO at Forfar Sheriff Court after being released from an eight-year prison sentence. The SOPO runs until 2024.

Sheriff Richard Macfarlane said: “You are a concern to the criminal justice system. Your offending goes back to 2003 and shows a course of conduct you have persisted in over the years. You have been managed so much over the years that I am striving to find out why you cannot comply with simple and innocuous requirements.”

Sentence was deferred and Perrie was remanded in custody for reports.

Steven Perrie changed his name after release from jail.