Father tells of trauma after learning of abuse claims against babysitters

Published on Wednesday 25 March 2009 21:12

A FATHER fought back tears yesterday and said words could not describe the trauma of being told that police suspected his infant son had been photographed while being sexually abused.

A court heard the 18-month-old boy had been allowed to stay overnight with two gay men, Neil Strachan, 41, and Colin Slaven, 23, while his parents hosted a New Year party.

Years later, an indecent image was found on a computer and the child had to be tested for HIV and hepatitis C.

The father, 33, said he had been told what was in the image, but he had not wanted to look at it. Asked about the effect on his family of hearing about the photograph, the man said: "Words cannot describe it."

He said that after he and his partner received the news, "things went bad" in their relationship. "It traumatised everything. Angry, everything … you name it, we felt it."

Strachan and Slaven deny sexually assaulting the boy at their flat in Edinburgh. It is alleged that a few days later, Strachan distributed a photograph of the act to another man, James Rennie, 38, also of Edinburgh. Strachan and Slaven are also accused of indecency towards the boy's six-year-old brother.

The High Court in Edinburgh has heard thousands of indecent images of children were recovered during an investigation by Lothian and Borders Police, called Operation Algebra.

One showing an indecent act, in which the face of neither the child nor the adult could be seen, became known as the Hogmanay Image. The prosecution alleges it was the incident at the home of Strachan and Slaven.

The boy's mother, 27, told the jury that Strachan and Slaven, who had been in a relationship since Slaven was 16, occasionally babysat for the boy and his brother. She said: "They were good with the boys. Every time they saw the boys, they spoiled them with sweeties, and were good to them at Christmas and birthdays. One year, they bought (the older boy] a mini hi-fi and a football strip."

The mother said Strachan had owned a digital camera, and photographs were taken of her younger boy when the two men took him on a trip to the zoo.

Strachan had sent two or three of the shots to her via e-mail, and she had used one as a screensaver on her computer.

At Hogmanay 2005, she was having a party and the boys had stayed overnight with Strachan and Slaven. "I vaguely remember one of them saying they were planning a quiet New Year, and I thought that instead of getting my mum to do it, I would give her a break and get them to babysit," the mother said.

Strachan, Slaven and Rennie are charged with five other men of possessing and distributing child pornography. The others are: Neil Campbell, 46; John Milligan, 40; and John Murphy, 44, all of Glasgow; Ross Webber, 27, of North Berwick; and Craig Boath, 24, of Dundee.

The trial continues.