One of Britain’s most notorious pedophiles, who was jailed with a former man SNP government advisor as part of a child abuse network – has been released from prison.
Neil Strachan, 58, described by a High Court judge as ‘sadistic and aggressive’, was recently released from prison on licence, months after the release of his accomplice James Rennie, 54.
Rennie, a former director of a gay and transgender rights charity LGBT Youth Scotland was also an SNP government adviser on child sex issues.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said: ‘This is truly sickening and the public needs absolute reassurance that he will be relentlessly monitored for the rest of his life.’
Strachan, who tried to rape a toddler, was held in the open prison at Castle Huntly, near Dundee. The couple, both from Edinburghwere serving sentences that were reduced to eight and a half and nine years respectively.
Strachan was originally ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years before being eligible for release. However, the penalty portion of his sentence was reduced to nine years by appeal judges in 2011.
Pedophile Neil Strachan
He was convicted of attempting to rape an 18-month-old boy and downloading child abuse images.
Former Scottish Government adviser Rennie was jailed after abusing the toddler son of unsuspecting friends.
The child Strachan tried to rape was not the same as Rennie’s main victim.
Both were made subject to Orders for Lifelong Restriction, meaning they could only be released if they were deemed safe by the Parole Board and licensed for the rest of their lives.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: ‘We do not comment on individual prisoners.’
