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Daily highlights ‘culture of secrecy’ after police refuse to name ‘sex beast’

A daily newspaper has again highlighted what it calls the ‘culture of secrecy’ in Scottish law enforcement after a police force refused to identify a “sex beast” on the loose.

The Daily Record published a front-page story last week on Police Scotland keeping secret the identity of the offender, who has been missing for at least three weeks.

It is the third time this year that the Record has been prevented from naming a sex offender as a result of official secrecy.

In March this year Record editor Murray Foote accused Police Scotland of “putting up shutters” after the force refused to release any details of another sex offender who had been on the run for a month.

Then in July, lawyers in the Crown Office, the Scottish version of the Crown Prosecution Service, refused detectives the right to issue a public appeal for a fugitive who later fled abroad.

In the latest story, the Record contrasted the force’s refusal to identify the offender with its decision to publish a CCTV image of a football fan wanted for throwing a coin at a Raith Rovers match.

Daily Record more beast

In 2015 a convicted on-the-run paedophile named Paul Vernon was caught after the Record published his photograph on its front page.

In the same year, the paper revealed how Police Scotland stayed silent when Mark Hudgell, a paedophile with links to Edinburgh, vanished in Lincolnshire.

English police went public but, even though the hunt headed north, Scots were not told.

A Police Scotland spokesman told the Record: “Protecting the public is a top priority. Releasing information in relation to an RSO (registered sex offender) where it is assessed that the threat to public safety is low would neither be justified nor proportionate.

“Such a decision is constantly reviewed throughout the course of inquiries until such time that they are apprehended or their ­whereabouts established.”

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  • October 2, 2017 at 8:07 pm
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    This shroud of secrecy when the man is a convicted sexual predator shows how out of touch the Scottish judiciary is. I sure hope someone publishes his name and this stupidity can be challenged in court. As for claiming the public protection remains their highest priority – don’t make me laugh.

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