By Catriona Stewart, Alison Campsie and Brian Donnelly
The Herald
May 8, 2009
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2506861.0.Unmasked_The_sickening_suburban_paedophile_ring.php
Eight men who hid behind middle-class respectability to operate Scotland's largest-known paedophile ring were last night facing lengthy jail sentences after police successfully exposed a highly complex network of child abuse and pornography.
Lothian and Borders Police said after the nine-week trial at the High Court in Edinburgh that information on 70 more individuals with suspected links to the paedophile ring had been passed to other forces throughout the UK as a result of its Operation Algebra.
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| DARK PURPOSE: Paedophile networks use a variety of technologies to maintain contact |
Ringleaders Neil Strachan, 41, and James Rennie, 38, both of Edinburgh, were found guilty yesterday of abusing young boys and distributing images and video of their depraved acts and now face a possible life prison sentence.
The pair will undergo "a full risk assessment", which would allow the court to impose an order for lifelong restriction - similar to a life sentence - in which the judge imposes a minimum sentence, but will only be freed when the parole board consider it safe to do so.
Rennie, the former chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, a national support group for young gay people, began his campaign of abuse when the child, who he used to babysit, was only three months old.
The former secondary school teacher enjoyed a high social and professional profile through his work in which he regularly spoke out in public on gay issues, particularly how they affected young people.
But the High Court heard he was "polluted by deviant compulsion". Crown QC Dorothy Bain said: "In reality he is someone who allowed his profound interest in the sexual abuse of children to engulf his entire life."
Strachan, who is HIV positive and already has two previous convictions for child abuse, molested at least two children, one just 18 months old.
Strachan, Rennie, Milligan, along with Ross Webber, 27, of North Berwick, a supervisor with RBS and Craig Boath, 24, an insurance worker from Dundee, were found guilty of conspiring to get access to a child or children to commit abuse.
From various locations across Scotland, they plotted, whether by using web cameras or other means such as by phone, to participate in sexual offences, including rape and sodomy.
Neil Campbell, 46, a church elder and bellringer at Jordanhill Parish Church in Glasgow, was also accused of the conspiracy, but he was cleared on that charge after the jury found the case against not proven.
John Murphy, 44, a former teacher who worked as a receptionist in a gay sauna, and Colin Slaven, 23, an IT worker from Edinburgh, were found guilty of various offences relating to the possession of indecent photographs of children along with the other six defendants.
Detective Superintendent Allan Jones, who led the Lothian and Borders inquiry team, said that more than 35 people have been arrested or were subject to enforcement action.
Two investigations are continuing in Scotland. He added: "This case, known as Operation Algebra, was one of the biggest and most challenging ever investigated by the force and represented the largest paedophile network dismantled in Scotland.
"As the investigation unfolded it revealed a web of people who had a common interest in child sexual abuse."
Apart from Strachan, none of the accused was known to the police, Detective Superintendent Jones said. "All led classic double lives. Some of them were respected members of their professions and communities."
Mr Jones said the use of the conspiracy charge in this case was "particularly significant", marking the first time it had been brought against individuals in a network.
The paedophile ring was first exposed after Strachan, an engineer for a paint mixing firm, handed in his work's computer hard drive for repair. An engineer found images of a naked boy on it and handed the machine to police.
Strachan, despite the severity of his offence, was the only one of the eight men on trial who denied every charge against him. Prosecutors were forced to piece together the case against him.
Last night, the mother of one of the abused babies released a statement which detailed her family's anguish - and her hopes that her son would go on to live a normal, happy life.
All the men were remanded in custody to await sentencing. Strachan and Rennie will be sentenced in July.
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