Tayside killers are among at least 63 violent offenders released on parole in Scotland this year.
Tasmin Glass, jailed for her role in the death of Angus oil worker Steven Donaldson, and a murderer imprisoned at HMP Castle Huntly were both granted freedom by the parole board in 2024.
They are among 23 killers released from Scottish prisons in the last 12 months.
Another two violent criminals at Castle Huntly, the open prison near Longforgan, were also paroled.
Due to the nature of how parole decisions are published, it is unclear what crimes were committed by many of those released.
This means the number of killers returning to society is likely greater than 23.
Additionally, the number of prisoners released on parole in 2024 is also greater than the currently reported 63.
This is due to release decisions not being published immediately and many releases not published at all.
Why release numbers are higher than reported
The Parole Board for Scotland is only legally obliged to publish anonymised decision summaries of prisoners on indeterminate sentences who have been released.
These are criminals given a punishment part of their sentence which they must serve before going before the parole panel.
This includes prisoners like Dundee murderer Robbie McIntosh who was sentenced to a minimum of five years for a brutal assault on Linda McDonald.
His Order for Lifelong Restriction (ORL) sentence means he may never be released – but McIntosh is now eligible for parole consideration every two years.
However, decisions concerning determinate sentence prisoners, those sentenced to a set time in prison, are not published.
These are prisoners like Angus killer Tasmin Glass, Dundee rapist Sean McGowan and Perth killer Robbie Smullen who have all been before the panel this year.
It is also these type of criminals who are automatically considered for parole halfway through their sentences.
Glass was released in July having served just five of her ten-year sentence for culpable homicide.
Law changes would give clearer picture
Through our A Voice for Victims campaign, The Courier has been campaigning for more transparency in how more parole decisions are reached.
The Parole Board for Scotland has said they could publish all decisions and remove anonymity if the Scottish Government changed the law.
Speaking to The Courier in August, Colin Spivey, chief executive of the parole board, said: “Our position, I think, is that we were quite happy to publish all of them – every single decision – but there would have been quite a resource implication.
“The anonymisation is part of the rules so we are required to make the summaries anonymous.
“The government might want to look at that in terms of policy, we would have no objections to that.”
Conversation