Paedophile who breached order to move in with child is jailed

A paedophile is behind bars after spinning a web of deceit to live with his girlfriend and her six-year-old child.

Stuart McGrane, who was convicted of possessing indecent images of children in 2016, breached a court order by living with a woman in Fife and her child.

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court he was jailed for 10 months.

Sheriff Grant McCulloch said McGrane, 33, of Marine Road, Bathgate, had deliberately failed to notify police of a change of address and gone to lengths to conceal his crime.

Previously the court heard McGrane was so obsessed with his relationship he had no regard for the order, which also prohibited unsupervised contact with children.

The child, whose mother was aware of the deception, was coached to lie that she lived only with “mummy”.

On one occasion McGrane stopped his partner calling an ambulance for him, fearing he would be detected.

To avoid him being spotted leaving her home, the woman would leave first and sound the car horn if it was safe.

McGrane admitted breaching the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act between November and May 7 by failing to tell police of a change of address in Fife.

His solicitor said he had now accepted the breach of his order was serious.

He stressed the offence was no more sinister than breaching the order and argued while prison would punish McGrane, it would not help him.

Sheriff McCulloch said McGrane had put his needs before those of others and the order was in place as police monitoring him needed to know where he was.