High Risk Sex Offender Walks Free

A Deeside man who had sex with a 15-year-old girl was yesterday spared a prison sentence despite warnings that he poses a “very high risk” of reoffending.

Kenneth Wilson, 42, had been found guilty of having unlawful sex with an under-age girl at his home on May 1, 2005, following a trial at Stonehaven Sheriff Court last month.

Wilson, of 15 Sycamore Way, Banchory, who has a previous conviction for under-age sex, walked free from court yesterday after sentence was deferred for six months.

Last night, locals were outraged at the development.

Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood deferred sentence with “some reluctance” until November 7 to allow Wilson to take part in a joint sex offenders’ programme.

A social inquiry report warned there was a “very high risk” of Wilson reoffending.

But Sheriff Fleetwood said that while he was minded to jail Wilson for 12 to 15 months, the programme offered him the best chance of “reducing” this type of behaviour.

He said: “I have to take some account of the future of young people that may come in contact with Kenneth Wilson.

“If I thought that the joint sex offenders’ programme was the best way to do that then I can’t look past that.

“What I’m minded to do with some reluctance is to defer sentence on Mr Wilson for six months. This is not simply for good behaviour but to specifically cover the work done in the sex offenders’ programme.”

The sheriff warned him he faced jail if he did not fully co-operate with social workers.

Wilson was bailed and placed on the sex offenders register.

During the two-day trial, the court heard evidence from the teenage victim, who said she had sex with Wilson in an upstairs bedroom of his home before her 16th birthday.

Her friend also told the trial the girl had confided in her about the incident which had taken place in May 2005.

But father-of-four Wilson had denied having sex with the girl and told the court she was a friend of his wife and would often visit the family home.

The trial also heard he confessed during a police interview to having sex with the teenager, but insisted it was consensual.

He claimed the confession had been fabricated to save his family from any ordeal and he told the police the incident had taken place on May 1, 2005, because it was the day his father had died and it was a date he would “never forget”.

His sentence caused outrage in Banchory yesterday.

One local said she was “disgusted” he had not been sent to prison. She said: “It is a concern for the whole neighbourhood. There’s a lot of children in the street and it’s beside a primary school and women’s refuge.”

Another resident described the outcome as “absolutely ridiculous”.

She said: “Obviously everyone around here is not impressed about the fact that he has got away with it. People get put away for much less.

“Pretty much every household has got young children and people are not letting their children out to play full stop because they are concerned about it.”

One mother who is wary of letting her children out said: “It’s not an environment that you want your children to be brought up in.

“Surely there should have been a custodial sentence, given the fact he has done this before and is at risk of doing it again.”

Banchory and Mid Deeside councillor Karen Clark said: “I’m very concerned with this outcome, particularly considering the number of young families that live in the area. I will be writing to Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership to ask about their housing policy in the light of the sheriff’s decision.”

Maggie Mellon, director of children and family services at charity Children 1st, said: “The age difference in this case is far too wide to imagine that this could be a relationship of equals. It was an abuse of power by an older man.

“Sexual activity involves emotional as well as physical maturity and young people under the age of 16 need to be protected from exploitation by adults.

“The issue that has to be addressed is what is going to change this man’s behaviour and protect under-age girls. “Apart from any prison sentence, it is essential that effective treatment programmes and sound supervision arrangements for convicted sex offenders are in place to ensure that they do not offend again.”