Fury after child sex abuser is freed early from jail
Automatic release still in use
A PAEDOPHILE nursery worker who was jailed for eight years has been freed after serving just half of his original sentence.
Alexander Mortimer, 32, sexually assaulted two children who attended the council childcare centre where he was employed.
But he later had his jail term cut on appeal to five years and 11 months – and has now been freed after serving about four years, roughly two-thirds of that reduced sentence.
Mortimer also amassed a cache of more than 18,000 images and videos of child abuse – some featuring himself.
The case undermines SNP rhetoric about having abolished automatic early release of prisoners, as the recently introduced changes to the system do not apply to criminals who are already in jail – allowing Mortimer to walk free.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman declined to comment on individual prisoners but penal system sources last night confirmed Mortimer had been freed.
The parents of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they were aware of Mortimer’s release but ‘wanted to put the ordeal behind them’.
He is now being monitored under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), which aim to ensure that police and council social work departments share the burden of supervising registered sex offenders.
The paedophile’s sentence was cut after his lawyers argued that he was not given a large enough reduction in sentence by judge Lady Stacey for pleading guilty.
But last night campaigner Margaret Ann Cummings – whose eight-year-old son Mark was murdered by serial paedophile Stuart Leggate in Glasgow in 2004 – said it was ‘diabolical’ that any sex offender was freed early.
She said: ‘It is sickening that this is even considered for devious paedophiles like Mortimer.
‘But this also shows that early release hasn’t been abolished for all serious criminals as we’ve been told – it’s utterly heartbreaking.’
A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said that it ‘does not have any information’ on Mortimer’s whereabouts.
Scottish Conservative North East candidate Alex Johnstone said: ‘Alexander Mortimer is a depraved individual who should never have been let out of prison early.
‘These were sickening crimes and the victims and parents of these children will be suffering terribly from this devastating news. This is just another example of the SNP’s soft touch approach to justice in Scotland – one which benefits the perpetrator but lets down the victims of crime and the rest of society badly.’
A 2014 probe by the council, police and health officials found that Mortimer was able to get the nursery job after a tenminute interview.
He secured the post after taking part in a scheme aimed at increasing the number of male nursery staff and his criminal record checks were clear. Mortimer even asked about the possibility of adoption through the council which employed him, shortly before his arrest.
But when staff raised concerns about his behaviour – for example shutting the door when he helped a child in the toilets – they were not acted on because of a perception that Mortimer was being unfairly singled out due to his gender.
The Significant Case Review (SCR), published in March 2014, found that Mortimer had effectively ‘groomed’ parents, trying to befriend them at vulnerable times to gain access to their children.
The review said it ‘emerged during inquiries, both by the police and internally, that several staff had raised issues of discomfort with internal managers about some of [Mortimer’s] behaviour at work’.
These ‘had not been discussed further with external managers or taken up with [Mortimer] directly, and there were issues in the recording of them’.
When Mortimer was jailed in July 2012, a judge branded him a danger to children and made an order preventing him from ever working with youngsters again.
He was caught after ‘intelligence’ led police to raid his home in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.
A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said sex offenders who require accommodation were monitored in the community through MAPPA and they could not comment on specific cases or individuals. He added that public safety was always the main priority.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said prison would always be the right place for ‘serious and dangerous’ offenders.
He said that changing the law on early release would help to achieve a ‘more balanced justice system’.
‘Sickening this is even considered’