Harley Quinn
October 29th, 2009, 08:13 AM
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.
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.
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.
Full story = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8331388.stm
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.
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.
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.
Full story = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8331388.stm