Details Of Sex Offenders May Be Posted On Internet

Details of some high-risk sex offenders could be published on the internet to alert parents, Cathy Jamieson announced yesterday. The justice minister said if offenders fail to co-operate with the police or abscond from the address they have given the authorities, their details and pictures could be published.

The Scottish Executive and the Crown Office are working with police officers and others to ensure that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre – which publishes details of some of the most wanted missing sex offenders in England and Wales – is available north of the Border.

It comes after members of a special Holyrood sub-committee considered the issue in the wake of the murder of eight-year-old Mark Cummings.

He was killed by Stuart Legatte, a known sex offender, who lived in the same tower block in Royston, Glasgow.

Since his death in 2004, his mother Margaret Ann Cummings has campaigned for the introduction of “Mark’s Law” which would allow parents to be told if there are registered sex offenders living in their area.

Members of the Justice 2 sub-committee recommended that sex offenders who refuse to co-operate with police should have their details put on the net.