Horror upon horror that unfolded in ‘worst ever’ abuse trial
May 2009,
THINK of a description such as vile, disgusting or revolting. Multiply it ten times, a hundred, a thousand. You are beginning to scratch the surface of just how bad it has been for jurors, and others, over the past nine weeks in what many believe was Scotland’s worst child sex abuse trial.
It was no coincidence that, for the first time in the country’s legal history, professional counsellors had been put on stand-by, ready to assist should any of the 15 jurors find it all too much after being exposed to the sort of evidence that caused even experienced police officers and lawyers to recoil in horror.
At times, the anguish was evident on faces around the courtroom, not just those in the jury box, and tears were shed. The comment of one woman who has more than 30 years’ association with the courts said it all: “I have never known anything like this. It is just awful.”
At times, it was difficult to know which was worse – the written word or photographs of abuse. Much of the evidence was “chat logs” – records of conversations via computer – and e-mail traffic between those in the dock and with other like-minded individuals. Even if, as the accused maintained, it was all fantasy and bluff and an accepted tactic among their kind to try to impress others into parting with some of their treasured collections of child pornography, the dialogue was sick and perverted.
Little of it could be printed in a newspaper without causing huge offence and distress. But the public at large should be under no illusion about what happens in the darkest recesses of the cyber world. Perhaps two examples are sufficient to demonstrate the point.
James Rennie, who used the e-mail name “kplover”, standing for “kiddie porn lover”, had a discussion with a man in the Netherlands who described how he would like to torture and “finish” a child. “His ending remains to be seen but I enjoy the thought of strangling him while sodomised,” the man stated.
On another occasion, Rennie sent a general e-mail with the request: “Has anyone got any porn with young Down’s syndrome or learning difficulty kids?”
The investigation began in late 2007. Neil Strachan, 41, a man who had served time for sexually abusing a child and was on the sex offenders’ register, worked as an engineer with Crown Paints at premises in Edinburgh. He had fitted a personal hard drive to one of the computers at his work and either forgot to remove it or had not realised that the computer was to be sent away for repair. A technician discovered an indecent image of a child, and police were alerted. Operation Algebra swung into action.
Strachan and his partner, Colin Slaven, 23, an IT worker, who shared a flat in Duff Street, Dalry, Edinburgh, were under immediate suspicion. The net widened after checks on Strachan’s e-mail traffic. The “kplover” address was linked to Rennie, 38, who lived in Marionville Road, Meadowbank, Edinburgh, and was then chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation that helped young people who had difficulties with their sexuality.
- Further inquiries led to raids on the homes of five other men:
- Ross Webber, 27, a bank worker, of Gilbert Avenue, North Berwick, East Lothian;
- Craig Boath, 24, an insurance claims adjuster, of Gourdie Street, Dundee;
- Neil Campbell, 46, the married manager of a cake business and a churchgoer, of Glendareul Avenue, Bearsden;
- John Milligan, a civil servant, of Wanlock Street, Govan; 17 years
- John Murphy, a trained teacher working part-time as a DJ in a gay bar and a receptionist in a gay sauna, of Westmoreland Street, Govanhill, all Glasgow.
The raids produced a haul of tens of thousands of indecent images of children, hours and hours of chat logs, and innumerable e-mails. An official scale is used to gauge such images – the Copine Scale – and many of those recovered fell into the worst categories, featuring the rape of children and sadism and bestiality. To keep to an absolute minimum the number of images the jury had to view, only examples from each of the collections were displayed in court.
The picture that emerged during the trial was of paedophiles “meeting” on internet chat sites. They could be from any part of the globe and, initially, they would talk in lurid terms about their sexual preferences.
The next stage would be to swap images from their child pornography collections. Again, this could be done via the internet, but sometimes a meeting would be arranged and sexual activity might take place between two men after they had viewed each other’s collections.
A constant theme in the chat logs was the wish for “access” to a child, to abuse him or her (usually him) and take photographs or, better still, video of the acts. Such images were greatly prized in the world of the paedophile, and that was the next rung on the ladder. It was a rung reached by Rennie and Strachan.
Rennie was a close friend of a couple with a son. He had known them from their student days together and he was regularly trusted to babysit the child from the age of three months. He abused the child, photographed and took video of the acts, and forwarded the images to others. It also appeared from some of his e-mail traffic and chat logs that he had been willing and keen to allow others their craved access to the boy. He wrote: “I would like to share my b with you as it is much hotter than solitary.” In a message to Strachan, he said: “Might be on for Saturday… put this in your diary.”
After Rennie’s arrest, police recovered the stills and video of the abuse. They had to inform the boy’s parents, and confirm the identity of the child, whose face was often hidden in the images. The mother told the court she had recognised her son from his pot belly and stature, his curly hair and a particular piece of clothing that she had never liked but which her husband did like and often used to put on the boy.
Asked to put into words the effect on the family of Rennie’s betrayal, and her son’s being subjected to tests for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, she said: “It is fair to say it has turned our lives upside down.”
Her husband added: “It has affected every day of my life. It has affected every relationship I have… it has been the pivotal thing of my lifetime.”
Strachan once wrote in a message to Rennie: “I might have found us a contact with two boys, two and four, willing to share. Only problem is he is in Warrington.” After the message was recovered by the police, huge efforts were made in the Cheshire area to try to identify the children. But they were never found.
Strachan had also written of “having fun” with boys aged six and 18 months. It had happened at New Year 2005-6 when the parents, who were known to Strachan and Slaven, allowed the youngsters to sleep over at the gay lovers’ flat while they hosted a Hogmanay party.
Some days later, Strachan transmitted to Rennie a copy of a photograph featuring an adult and a child of about 18 months. Neither face was visible. The photograph was recovered by police after officers in Edinburgh took steps in the United States, with the assistance of the FBI, to freeze and obtain access to Rennie’s e-mail account with Microsoft. The photograph became known as “the Hogmanay Image” and it was one of the most harrowing for the jury. Although Strachan said in an accompanying message to Rennie that he was the adult in the shot, and he was known to have a polo shirt like the one worn by the man, the police required further proof. They established that Strachan owned a Sony CybershotU digital camera, and they had three photographs of Strachan. One was of him in a baseball cap, and the others were shots of his body that he had sent to his work as a picture sick-note when he suffered from shingles.
Hany Farid, 43, of New Hampshire in the US, is recognised as a world expert in the evolving forensic discipline of computer sciences. He has helped the FBI and the CIA, and it was to him that Lothian and Borders Police turned in relation to the Hogmanay Image. Professor Farid explained to the jury that modern cameras had a “digital fingerprint” and it was possible to link an image to a particular camera, in the same way a bullet could be shown to have been fired from a particular gun.
He studied the photographs of Strachan and the Hogmanay Image and said it was highly likely they had all originated from the same camera, a Sony CybershotU. It was the first time such evidence had been used outside the US.
A second world expert was recruited. Susan Black, of Dundee University, is renowned for her work in human anatomy, and has identified victims in Kosovo, Iraq and Sierra Leone, and in the London bombings.
She examined the Hogmanay Image, in particular the right thumb of the adult, and photographs of Strachan’s right thumb. She noted that the offender’s lunule, the white crescent at the base of the nail, was distorted. The crescent on Strachan’s nail was similarly misshapen.
Professor Black said there was “strong evidence” to support the proposition that Strachan and the abuser were the same person.
Again, the police had the task of revealing to the parents what had happened to their children during that New Year stopover two years earlier. The father told the jury of his torment. He said: “Words cannot describe it… it traumatised everything. Angry, everything… you name it, we felt it.”
Traumatised was a word with which many who had the misfortune to be involved in this trial could identify.
Sickening catalogue of abuse kept secret for years
THE sickening acts of child abuse captured in the so-called “Hogmanay image” horrified the jury in the trial of a paedophile network.
But that vile episode, which saw Neil Strachan carry out disgusting sex acts on a child aged about 18 months, did not represent the first time he had abused defenceless children. The 41-year-old was jailed for three years in 1997 for repeatedly molesting a boy.
In a sickening echo of the abuse he was yesterday convicted of, the former youth football club official started preying on the boy when he was only five, after befriending his parents. Strachan quit as secretary of Edinburgh-based Celtic East Boys Club after he was caught. The abuse had gone on for two years.
The boy’s parents trusted Strachan and let their son stay overnight at his home in Edinburgh. Following his conviction, the victim’s mother said Strachan “should be castrated”.
“He abused our trust, and he deserved to go to jail,” she said.
Sheriff Andrew Bell told him the abuse he carried out was “particularly disgusting and disgraceful”.
He had been convicted of a similar sex offence in 1985 but had managed to keep his past secret.
Neil Strachan
Youth rights champion guilty of vile abuse
A CENTRAL figure in the paedophile ring that committed a string of horrific abuse crimes had been both a confidante to teenagers struggling with their sexuality and a prominent champion of youth rights.
Jamie Rennie began working with LGBT Youth Scotland – which provides support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people – as a group worker in 1997.
Every week, the trained teacher would provide emotional support and advice for about 20 youngsters aged between 13 and 18 at a community centre in the Tollcross area of Edinburgh.
After a year working directly with young people, Rennie moved into management and rose to become chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland in 2003.
He studied physics at Heriot-Watt University, after which he trained as a teacher. It was during his studies that he became friends with the parents of “Child F” – who he would go on to abuse during babysitting sessions.
In a statement issued after the verdict, the charity expressed its shock and “betrayal” on learning of the abuse Rennie had carried out. It was within the offices of LGBT Youth Scotland that Rennie accessed the Hotmail account “kplover” that he used to view and distribute vile pornographic images of children.
“We are appalled by the abuse and exploitation of children by James Rennie, and wholeheartedly welcome his conviction,” LGBT Youth Scotland said.
“Our immediate thoughts are with the children and families who have been directly, and indirectly, abused by him and the other co-accused also convicted.
“Lothian and Borders Police have been clear that their investigations concerned James Rennie personally and not LGBT Youth Scotland as an organisation.”
Rennie also sat on the board of YouthLink Scotland, which provides support for youth groups across Scotland.
A spokesman for YouthLink Scotland said Rennie was suspended from his position after it learned of his arrest.
The group also insisted “he had no access to children or young people”.
Jamie Rennie Scumbag Paedophile
The two men at the centre of Scotland’s largest known child abuse network have been jailed for life.
Neil Strachan, 41, attempted to rape an 18-month-old boy while 38-year-old James Rennie sexually assaulted a three-month-old.
Strachan was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison, while Rennie was ordered to serve at least 13 years.
Police said the operation had led to more than 200 suspected paedophiles, 70 of them in the UK, being identified.
Six other men had already been sentenced for their involvement in the network.
Strachan and Rennie, both from Edinburgh, were also found guilty after a 10-week trial of conspiring to get access to children in order to abuse them, while Strachan was convicted of a further charge of sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy.
This, in my judgment, can be properly described as a dreadful crime Lord Bannatyne
Strachan, who is HIV positive, has already served a three-year prison sentence in 1997 for abusing a boy. Rennie was the chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, which offers advice to young gay and lesbian people.
Passing sentence on the pair, judge Lord Bannatyne referred to Strachan’s abuse of the 18-month-old boy, which was captured in a photograph known as the “Hogmanay image” because it was taken on New Year’s Eve in 2005.
The judge told Strachan: “By its very nature, what is shown in that photograph is utterly appalling and would shock to the core any right-minded person who has had to see it.
“Over and above that, this offence involves the most gross level of breach of trust. You were invited into a house, treated as a friend of the family, and then entrusted with their child.
“You then breached that trust in the way shown in the ‘Hogmanay image’ in order to satisfy your base sexual interests. This, in my judgment, can be properly described as a dreadful crime.”
Lord Bannatyne said Rennie had also betrayed the trust of the parents of his victim to a “truly appalling” extent.
The judge said Rennie, a trained teacher who was found guilty of 14 charges, was at the heart of the conspiracy to abuse youngsters, and likened him to a spider weaving an electronic web to bring about his crime.
The mother of Rennie’s victim, known as Child F, told BBC Scotland of the “pain and torment” the case had put their family through.
She called for a “global strategy” between internet providers and government to prevent the distribution of abuse images.
“However, for those involved in paedophile behaviour to identify it in themselves and know where to seek help, society must be prepared to discuss this issue”, she added.
Ian Livingston, Lothian & Borders Police: “I welcome the sentences”
“We need to allow an openness within society of where to seek help, just as alcoholics go to AA and gamblers go to GA.
“Clearly the protection of children must take precedence, but if individuals could have been stopped or deterred, we as a family may not have found ourselves in this situation.”
Rennie had circulated pictures of the abuse and offered a boy to other paedophiles – an offer taken up by Strachan.
Both will remain under close supervision for the rest of their lives after the parole board sees fit to free them.
Defence counsel Mark Stewart QC said Rennie, who has no previous convictions, wanted to make a formal apology and place on public record his “shame and sorrow” at what happened.
Co-accused Colin Slaven, 23, from Edinburgh; Neil Campbell, 46, John Milligan, 40, and John Murphy, 44, all from Glasgow; Ross Webber, 27, from North Berwick in East Lothian; and Craig Boath, 24, from Dundee, were also convicted of various offences.
They were given prison sentences of between two and 17 years.
The men had been arrested during the Operation Algebra police investigation, which uncovered nearly 125,000 indecent images of children.
It is clear from the evidence in this case that the accused saw no limits on how far they would share, exploit and abuse children
Operation Algebra also uncovered dozens more suspects around the country and worldwide, many of whom have already been charged.
The investigation was sparked by a single indecent image of a naked 11-year-old which was found on paint company engineer Strachan’s computer when it was sent for repair.
Detectives discovered that Strachan and Rennie had filmed themselves sexually abusing children before distributing the images over the internet.
The two paedophiles had been trusted by the children’s parents to look after the children.
Lothian and Borders Police said their inquiry had led to more than 200 suspected paedophiles being identified internationally, and at least 70 in the UK.
Detectives have said there were further suspects in Scotland as well as Avon and Somerset; Devon and Cornwall; Merseyside; South Wales; West Midlands; Sussex; Essex; London; Thames Valley; and Hampshire.
Speaking after the sentencing, Morag McLaughlin, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said recent advances in technology were making it easier for the police to bring child abusers to justice.
She added: “It is clear from the evidence in this case that the accused saw no limits on how far they would share, exploit and abuse children in order to satisfy their own horrific sexual gratification.
“However, our specialist prosecutors will use the constantly improving technology available to the police to stop and bring to court those who think they are hidden by the anonymity of the internet.”
https://www.scotsman.com/news/horror-upon-horror-that-unfolded-in-worst-ever-abuse-trial-2443861
One of the ringleaders of Scotland’s biggest paedophile network has had his minimum prison sentence cut by four-and-a-half years by appeal judges.
James Rennie is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting a three-month-old and for conspiring to get access to children in order to abuse them.
Rennie, from Edinburgh, was ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years in jail.
Appeal judges have reduced that to a minimum of eight-and-a-half years before he can apply for parole.
Judge Lord Clarke, sitting with Lord Philip, said: “We wish to make it clear that that does not mean he will be released after that period of time.
“All that has been done is fixing the period of time that must be spent by the appellant before any consideration can be given to his release.”
Rennie was convicted in 2009 along with seven others on sex abuse charges.
Co-accused Neil Strachan from Edinburgh; Colin Slaven, from Edinburgh; Neil Campbell, John Milligan and John Murphy, 44, all from Glasgow; Ross Webber, from North Berwick in East Lothian; and Craig Boath, from Dundee, were all convicted of various offences.
At the time of sentence in October 2009, judge Lord Bannatyne said Rennie had also betrayed the trust of the parents of his victim to a “truly appalling” extent.
The judge said Rennie, a trained teacher who was found guilty of 14 charges, was at the heart of the conspiracy to abuse youngsters, and likened him to a spider weaving an electronic web to bring about his crime.
‘Greater reality’
Rennie was the chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, which offers advice to young gay and lesbian people.
The mother of the boy who Rennie sexually assaulted said: “Previously we could factor in our son being a lot older when James Rennie is released and I just think it brings it closer for the potential for him to be released.
“It brings it into a greater reality for us to have to factor in as to how we deal with that.
“Not that he will have contact with our son but the fact he potentially might be out and our son is going to be younger and more vulnerable.
“That makes it more challenging to get our head around.”
She added: “We think of our son, but these men are of great risk to the public in terms of what they have done and what they could do if they were ever released.”
The boy’s father said: “We have concerns that someone convicted of these offences will likely re-offend.
“It could be four-and-a-half-years sooner that Mr Rennie could now attempt to re-offend.
“It might be somebody else’s child.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15790605
A man who was part of a paedophile gang in Edinburgh has had his minimum sentence almost halved by appeal judges.
Neil Strachan, 43, is serving a life sentence for plotting with others to abuse children.
Strachan, who was convicted in 2009 of the crimes, was originally to serve a minimum of 16 years in jail before he could bid for freedom.
Now his minimum sentence has been cut to nine years.
Strachan was convicted of attempting to rape an 18-month-old boy while looking after him at Hogmanay 2005 and of downloading child pornography from websites.
However, at a previous hearing appeal judges ruled that although Strachan had swapped e-mails with co-accused James Rennie about “sharing” a baby boy, there was not enough evidence to find him guilty of a wider conspiracy.
Strachan returned to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Thursday knowing he would get his minimum sentence cut as a result of the previous decision.
He also stood to benefit from a recent ruling by top judges which changed the way minimum sentences are calculated for lifers other than murderers.
Lord Bonomy, sitting with Lord Kingarth, told Strachan that because one of the key charges against him had been “significantly modified” the original sentence could no longer stand.
He said that applying the new rules would lead to a further reduction.
After his trial in May 2009, judge Lord Bannatyne described Strachan as “sadistic and aggressive”.
HIS first sex offence came in 1985 when, aged just 17, Neil Strachan was convicted of indecency.
In 1997, by then a football referee in Edinburgh and a youth club official, Strachan was jailed for three years for repeatedly molesting a five-year-old boy. At the time, Sheriff Andrew Bell branded the attacks “particularly disgusting and disgraceful”.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/one-day-im-going-to-have-to-tell-him-what-happened-2443843
Imprisoned for 36 months in 1997, Strachan fell into the most serious sex offenders’ category. Released early in 1999, he was made the subject of a year-long supervision order. During that time, monitoring was the responsibility of a criminal justice social work team including Lothian and Borders Police, NHS Lothian and Edinburgh City Council. At the end of the order, his monitoring was then taken over by the police. Periodic reviews were undertaken by the joint police, council and health service team.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-13458501
A member of Scotland’s biggest paedophile network has had his sentence cut by 13 months.
Ross Webber, 28, a bank worker from East Lothian, received eight years and nine months in June 2009 for his involvement in the gang.
Another member of the network, John Milligan, 41, was refused his appeal by judges in Edinburgh.
Judge Lord Osborne told Milligan his conviction had “involved a conspiracy to sexually assault children in the most appalling ways.”
Milligan, a civil servant from Glasgow, was jailed for 17 years. He had been found in possession of more than 78,000 indecent images.
Webber’s defence advocate Maggie Scott QC told the appeal judges he could be considered as separate entirely from his co-accused and that his original sentence was excessive.
Lord Osborne ruled Webber’s sentence should be cut.
Eight men were convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh last year of a series of charges.
The two worst offenders were Neil Strachan, 42, and James Rennie, 39, both of Edinburgh, who had committed actual abuse against youngsters.
They were given life sentences and ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years and 13 years respectively.
Lothian and Borders Police’s Operation Algebra began in late 2007 when a computer, linked to Strachan through his work with a paint firm, was sent for repair and indecent images were found stored on it.
Inquiries led to Rennie, then chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation which counselled young people with sexuality difficulties, and raids were carried out on the homes of the other six men.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10344719