Offender fantasy not unlawful

Published on Friday 19 October 2007 00:13

A REPEAT sex offender is to be freed from prison after appeal judges dismissed charges which alleged he had threatened to attack a child.

Colin Macdonald, 33, was accused of alarming psychologists during an interview in preparation for his release from a six-year sentence for assaulting a schoolgirl. He was said to have described himself as a dangerous predator who had not been rehabilitated and discussed the Soham killer, Ian Huntley.

Macdonald, from Falkirk, already had convictions for sexual offences and was on probation when, in September 2001, he grabbed a girl, 11, in Denny, Stirlingshire. He admitted a charge of assaulting the girl with intent to rape her.

Last year, during interviews for a pre-release risk assessment, he was charged with breaches of the peace.

The first charge alleged that, to cause fear and alarm, he stated he was a dangerous predator and that he intended to commit the kind of sexually violent crime which would attract a life sentence. The second charge accused him of threatening to use a knife on his victim, and of referring to murdered children Sarah Payne, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

At a pre-trial hearing, Lord Bracadale rejected a submission that it was not open to the Crown to charge Macdonald.

Macdonald appealed and his argument succeeded, on a split decision of the appeal judges. Lords Johnston and Clarke upheld the plea that the charges were not competent.

Defence counsel, Gordon Jackson, QC, said: "You cannot charge anyone who tells a psychologist of a sexual fantasy with breach of the peace."