SK-H026 – & THE TRAIL OF CRUMBS LED BACK TO …..?
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Offender had downloaded 300 child porn pictures
11 May 2006
Aberdeen Press & Journal
(c) 2006 The Press and Journal Limited .
A Man who had 300 photographs of children either naked or in sexual poses was put on probation for 18 months yesterday.
Michael Wilson, 48, was also put on the sex offenders’ register for 18 months by Sheriff Graeme Buchanan at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Fiscal depute John Richardson said information was received by police who searched Wilson’s property.
He was asked by the officers whether he had anything on his computer which would pose a difficulty.
Wilson admitted there would be some items and police took the computer away.
After analysis, it was found to have 300 images of children under the age of 16 – and some as young as eight.
Mr Richardson said most of the images showed young girls without clothes although some depicted sexual acts between each other.
Wilson, of 33 Wallfield Place, Aberdeen, admitted taking or allowing to be taken, 300 indecent photographs of children, on or between May 17, 2003, and June 7, 2004, at 147 Kingshill Avenue.
Defence agent Ian Hay said Wilson had been interviewed by police in June, 2004, and the court case had been hanging over him. Sheriff Buchanan called for a probation review report on August 9.
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Aberdeen man placed on sex offenders register
30 October 2004
Aberdeen Press & Journal
(c) 2004 The Press and Journal Limited .
A City man who groped a 12-year-old girl has been placed on the sex offenders register.
George Stewart, 43, appeared at the sheriff court on several charges, including two of indecent assault. He had previously admitted the offences but sentence was deferred for reports.
Yesterday, Sheriff Graeme Buchanan put him on probation for two years, with special conditions, and said his name would be on the sex offenders register for the same length of time.
Stewart, formally of 11 Canal Place, Aberdeen, seized the girl’s buttocks on April 21 when he was on bail. He also admitted trying to touch a woman’s groin in Albert Street on September 8.
Sheriff Buchanan said Stewart must remain a resident at the address on Union Street and attend Royal Cornhill Hospital as part of his probation order.
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Sentence deferred in child sex case.
By ahorne.
19 September 2001
Evening Express
(c) 2001 Evening Express.
A PERVERT who sexually abused two young Aberdeen girls was locked up today to await a psychologist’s report.
Charles Christie, 47, had previously admitted using lewd and indecent behaviour towards his 11-year-old victims.
The incidents happened on December 6 last year at an address in the city’s Froghall area.
Christie, who had a Torry address in court papers but who now lives in England, induced the children to take off their clothes, touched and kissed them, simulated sex and committed indecent acts in front of them. Sentence had previously been deferred for background reports and a psychologist’s report which was not available today, when Christie appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentence.
Sheriff Graeme Buchanan commented that a social inquiry report was “quite alarming”.
He said it was quite disturbing particularly in relation to Christie’s attitude and he may present a serious risk of harm.
The SheriffHe noted that the offence involved a young victim who was completely unknown to Christie before the incident.
The Sheriff He said that in view of the concerns over Christie’s attitude to this “very serious offence”, and because he had to consider the public interest, the most appropriate thing for him to do was to remand Christie in custody.
He also ordered Christie to be put on the Sex Offenders’ Register and deferred sentence further until September 26, for a psychologist’s report to be made available.
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Sex case fiasco sparks pledge from law chief.
By ashaw.
25 May 2001
Evening Express
(c) 2001 Evening Express.
Sex case fiasco sparks pledge from law chief Alison Shaw AN Aberdeen law chief today pledged there would be no repeat of a fiasco which saw a child sex case collapse.
The case against a relative of a 10-year-old girl was thrown out after delays bringing it to court.
The 22-year-old accused successfully argued his rights, under the European Convention to a fair trial, had been breached because the case had not been brought in a reasonable time.
It emerged today that the case is to be raised with the Scottish Parliament. Elaine Thomson, the family’s MSP, is to tackle Justice Minister Jim Wallace over the blunder.
“They feel the system has just let them down very, very badly and they want to see what can be done about it,” she said. The Procurator Fiscal’s office has admitted the delay was caused by problems in the department and told the child that “grown-ups made mistakes”.
Now the woman in charge, regional Procurator Fiscal Elish Angiolini says steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of the debacle.
“It is a matter of great concern that particularly in such tragic cases that there was a delay but I hope that that situation will not occur again. “We are doing everything within our power to ensure that it does not.”
The latest case comes hard on the heels of a case involving a young Mearns boy, allegedly the victim of a serious sex offence, which had to be dropped because of delays in bringing the accused to court.
Under Scots law an accused remanded in custody must be brought to court within 110 days. If they are released on bail the Crown has one year to get the case to court but sometimes cases are deserted temporarily and re-indicted months later which can string out the process.
The latest case was brought to the attention of the fiscals’ office in mid-1998 but was thrown out earlier this month – nearly three years after investigations began.
Mrs Angiolini admitted there had been staffing problems during that period and her 15-strong fiscals’ team was four down.
But she has now instructed that all cases involving child witnesses be dealt with, if possible, within the 110 day-rule.
– a measure she described as the most Draconian time bar in the world. She also answered criticism of the number of cases marked “no proceedings” by the Aberdeen office.
She said the figure was down from 17.4% of cases to 12.4%. At any one time the office can be dealing with 30,000 cases. Euro law used to avoid court THE European human rights legislation is increasingly being used by accused people in a bid to avoid going to trial.
They argue under Article 6 of the Convention that if it takes too long to bring the case against them to court, then their human rights have been infringed.
The grounds cited are that their right to a fair hearing within a “reasonable time” has been breached.
The question is what is a “reasonable time”? At the moment it is up to the judge’s discretion on the circumstances of each case.
The case of the ten-year-old girl, allegedly sexually abused by a relative, was first brought to the attention of the fiscal’s office in 1998. Sheriff Graeme Buchanan ruled the three-year delay in getting it into court was too long.
and threw it out ruling it would not be fair to continue after the 22-year-old accused argued the human rights issue.
Regional Procurator Fiscal Elish Angiolini, who specialises in child witness cases, says the European Convention on Human Rights has “changed the goalposts”.
But she conceded there were delays in her department and the situation was “not at all acceptable.”
Until recently the case, and a similar sex case involving a Mearns boy which was also dropped, would have succeeded in getting to trial.
But the Convention, and the way it is administered in Scots Law, has constricted the time period for dealing with cases.
Ms Angiolini said: “It is our policy and practice to deal with them expeditiously anyway, given that they are children.”
One of the factors for the delay was that the case, and a similar sex case involving a Mearns boy which was also dropped, was not reported into the fiscal’s electronic system and therefore not subject to the usual rigorous checks.
The system incorporates a number of warnings which flag up the progress of cases each month – how they are being dealt with, what has happened, whether they have been closed off.
At any one time there are around 30,000 cases circulating in the system which is now being developed further to provide all depute fiscals with PCs and the built-in warnings to streamline working practices.
Now the fiscal has instructed cases involving children be given priority brought to court within 110 days.
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Girl, 10, receives apology for court blunder.
By Gillian Harris Scotland Correspondent.
26 May 2001
The Times
Copyright Times Newspapers Ltd, 2001
THE parents of a girl who was sexually abused by a male relative are considering a private prosecution after a sheriff ruled that the case should be dropped because it took too long to come to court.
The girl, known only as Mary, has received a letter of apology from the procurator fiscal’s office in Aberdeen.
Mary’s father said: “How do you tell a 10-year-old the system has let her down? My daughter’s personality was completely changed after the event, but her outgoing and playful nature has has helped her to cope.”
The accused man allegedly made a full confession to police during a taped interview in 1998.
When the case came before Aberdeen Sheriff Court on May 10 this year the defence made a submission that, under Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, there had been an unreasonable delay and proceedings should be dropped.
At another hearing on May 21, Sheriff Graeme Buchanan accepted the claim and the case was declared incompetent. On Thursday the girl received the letter of apology from the procurator fiscal’s office. Sandra McRobert, the principal procurator fiscal, wrote: “You have been very brave over all this and I am very sorry that because grown-ups made mistakes, you are angry because you feel (the accused) has not been punished by the courts.
” Mum believed you and so did the police, and they wrote to my office to tell the lawyers here what had happened, and we also believed you. Unfortunately, because of problems at this office, there was a long delay in getting a time to come to court, and when the sheriff heard about the delay, he felt that it would not be fair to continue with the trial.”
The girl’s parents said yesterday that they were devastated by the sheriff’s decision and would pursue a case against the 22-year-old man. Their lawyer, George Mathers, has written to the procurator fiscal’s office asking for an explanation.
Mr Mathers said. “The man is not on the sex offenders register and there is the chance that other little girls might now be in danger.
“Depending on the explanation given, a formal complaint will be submitted to the Lord Advocate at the Crown Office in Edinburgh.”
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Anger as sex-case man walks free from court.
By Alan Young.
4 February 2000
Aberdeen Press & Journal
(c) 2000 The Press and Journal Limited .
THERE was outrage last night after a man accused of having unlawful sex with a girl with learning difficulties walked free from court after the collapse of a four-day trial.
Sheriff Graeme Buchanan ruled that there was no case to answer against 52-year-old Robert Douglas, of Northfield, Aberdeen, at the close of the Crown case in Aberdeen Sheriff Court, due to insufficient evidence. It prompted angry reaction from relatives of the alleged victim who are now to meet the procurator fiscal to discuss the case.
The sheriff had ruled earlier in the day that evidence from a police interview could not be played to the court, as it had been unfairly obtained. Douglas, whose address was given on court papers as Longlands Place, Aberdeen, had denied having unlawful sex with the 17-year-old girl, protected by the Mental Health (Scotland) Act, between June 1 and August 16, 1998.
His 16-year-old twin daughters, Emma and Pamela, had both given evidence for the prosecution.
The trial had heard the alleged victim, who cannot be named, was found to have a mental age of around seven-and-a-half. Accepting a defence motion that there was no case to answer, Sheriff Buchanan said there was insufficient evidence and acquitted Douglas.
Dismissing the jury, he told them it had been a “very unusual case”. He said: “In the course of the day, I have heard certain legal submissions which resulted in me taking a decision, in relation to a matter of law, that there would be insufficient evidence to enable you to convict the accused of the charge which he faced.”
Douglas’s solicitor George Mathers said after the ruling: “My client is relieved that his ordeal is over.”
Outside the court, the grandmother of the alleged victim said: “It is very, very unfair – intolerable.”
Speaking from her Aberdeen home, the mother of the girl said last night: “We wanted to see justice done and just got a slap in the face.
She said her daughter had been “broken-hearted” when she heard the news. Procurator fiscal Len Higson said there was no provision for the Crown to appeal against the ruling. He added that he had been in touch with the father of the alleged victim with a view to discussing the case.
Sheriff Buchanan had ruled that evidence from a police interview could not go before the jury.
He said: “Officers effectively manoeuvred the accused into a position where he felt it necessary to blurt out a statement.
“I am quite satisfied that the Crown failed to establish on the balance of probabilities that it was not extracted through unfair means.”
(c) The Press and Journal Limited, 2000.
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Child sex case deserted.
27 August 1998
Evening Express
(c) 1998 Evening Express.
THE trial of a former senior social worker who is alleged to have committed sex offences against two children has been temporarily deserted. Roger Gaitley, 53, formerly of Ellon but now of 3 Willow Tree Close, Beltinge, Herne Bay, Kent, was accused of two charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour.
The trial against him was due to begin at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today. But depute fiscal David Moggach’s motion for the case to be temporarily deserted was granted by Sheriff Graeme Buchanan. Mr Moggach said afterwards that it was open to the Crown to raise proceedings at a later date. Gaitley held a #30,000-a-year post as a principal social worker with Aber-deenshire Council with special responsibility for HIV, alcohol and drug services.
It is alleged he carried out the first offences between May 7, 1979, and May 6, 1986, at two addresses in Ellon and in a car between Glasgow and Aberdeen. The second charge allegedly took place at a youth hostel on Arran, an address in Ellon and the Gleneagles Hotel between November 1, 1989, and February 28, 1994.
Gaitley’s solicitor Graeme Murray said afterwards that the Crown had until early November to call the case against his client or it would be dropped.
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Child sex case deserted.
27 August 1998
Evening Express
(c) 1998 Evening Express.
THE trial of a former senior social worker who is alleged to have committed sex offences against two children has been temporarily deserted. Roger Gaitley, 53, formerly of Ellon but now of 3 Willow Tree Close, Beltinge, Herne Bay, Kent, was accused of two charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour.
The trial against him was due to begin at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today. But depute fiscal David Moggach’s motion for the case to be temporarily deserted was granted by Sheriff Graeme Buchanan. Mr Moggach said afterwards that it was open to the Crown to raise proceedings at a later date.
Gaitley held a #30,000-a-year post as a principal social worker with Aber-deenshire Council with special responsibility for HIV, alcohol and drug services.
It is alleged he carried out the first offences between May 7, 1979, and May 6, 1986, at two addresses in Ellon and in a car between Glasgow and Aberdeen. The second charge allegedly took place at a youth hostel on Arran, an address in Ellon and the Gleneagles Hotel between November 1, 1989, and February 28, 1994.
Gaitley’s solicitor Graeme Murray said afterwards that the Crown had until early November to call the case against his client or it would be dropped.
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