MSPs debate bid to expose sex offenders

Published on 07/06/2007 12:00

PROPOSALS to publish pictures of sex offenders who go on the run were being debated at the Scottish Parliament today.

Top-level talks between the SNP government and the Tories were held on the issue last week in the wake of the Angelika Kluk case. Peter Tobin, the convicted sex offender who raped and murdered the Polish student, had been on the run for almost a year before carrying out the killing.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and First Minister Alex Salmond met Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken and Tory leader Annabel Goldie last week.

Following that meeting, Mr MacAskill said photographs of those who breached the terms of the sex offenders' register could be published in a bid to track them down. He also agreed to consider another proposal from the Tories to use technology such as satellite tracking devices to improve the monitoring of such criminals.

In addition, the Tories want sex offenders who have disappeared to undergo lie detector tests when they are traced, to determine where they have been and what they have done while on the run.