Mother of boy murdered by paedophile urges improved sex offender monitoring
A mother whose son was killed by a convicted sex offender has brought her decade-long campaign for tougher measures to protect children back to Holyrood.
Margaret Ann Cummings's son Mark was eight when he was murdered by Stuart Leggate in Royston, Glasgow, in 2004.
She has spent more than 10 years campaigning for changes to the way serious sex offenders are managed when they are released from prison to prevent a similar tragedy happening in future.
Ms Cummings, 40, was at the Scottish Parliament to watch her MSP Paul Martin lead a member's debate calling for a review of existing arrangements.
Campaigners want a web-based public registry containing information about high-risk sex offenders, which can be searched by name or postcode.
They also want a panel of expert clinicians to assess sex offenders on a case by case basis to determine their risk of reoffending and their eligibility for the online registry.
There should also be a requirement for convicted sex offenders to disclose information about their convictions during the housing application process, and a review of sentencing tariffs for child sex offenders, they said.
Speaking outside Holyrood before the debate, Ms Cummings said the current child sex offender disclosure scheme, which allows parents, carers and guardians to formally ask the police to tell them if someone has a record for child sexual offences, does not go far enough.
Meanwhile, a recommendation by a Holyrood committee in 2006 for sex offenders to disclose details of convictions on housing applications has still not been implemented by the Scottish Government.
"I want change where the children are protected, victims are protected, and sex offenders know that they are monitored out in the community by the community, not just leaving it in the hands of the police and the social workers,'' Ms Cummings said.
"Sex offenders are still hiding in the community, they are being let out of jail without spending adequate time there, they are not being properly treated when they are there, so they are still a danger when they come out.''
She added: "Every time I hear another story about another child or another victim it brings back all those years of heartache.
"Knowing that it has not really changed since the committee said it would put the recommendations in place.
"It takes you right back to the very beginning when I lost Mark, and knowing that another family are going through the same thing, and searching for those answers.''