A paedophile who changed his identity to hide his past has been jailed for the devious bid to reinvent himself as a respectable family man and business owner.
Steven MacDonald – branded one of the country’s worst sex offenders and a danger to the public – was able to gain access to the child of an associate who had no idea who he really was, thanks to the legal name change, which cost him just £42.44.
The builder, who was previously known as Steven Perrie, was even able to move in with a woman and her child despite it being a breach of strict court conditions.
Sheriff Richard MacFarlane jailed him for 232 days at Dundee Sheriff Court after noting social workers still consider him a serious danger to the public.
The court was told Perrie – who has been jailed for previous sex crimes – defied numerous strict conditions of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
“You do not see yourself as presenting a risk to anyone,” Sheriff MacFarlane said.
“The author of the report is concerned about you.
“They consider you pose a risk of causing serious harm in the community.”
Hid identity with £44 name change
The court previously heard how Perrie changed his name after being jailed for a number of high-profile sex crimes including having a record haul of child abuse material.
Using his new name, he was living with a woman and her child when social workers found out he had assumed a new identity.
His latest crimes came to light after more than a year as Steven MacDonald, when he had to change his banking details because of his new surname.
He admitted a number of offences, including having contact with children and defying a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Solicitor Scott Norrie told the court: “Mr MacDonald has gone through the change of name process legally some time ago. His previous name was Perrie.
“Despite the failings he has accepted, he has attempted to make a new life.
“The change of name is perhaps one sign of that.
“It could also be interpreted as trying to hide himself because there was adverse publicity in the past because of his previous convictions.”
Duped man into working with him
Perrie, 55, from Montrose, was operating a building company under his new name.
He admitted failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements by having a Barclays Mastercard between May 1, 2019 and November 19, 2020.
He admitted breaking a ban on having contact with children by spending time with a six-year-old numerous times between September 2019 and November last year.
The child’s father, who cannot be named, said: “We were both building a house when plain clothes officers came along and asked him to come with them.
“He just went without asking why, which I thought was odd.
“It was a shock to discover what he had been involved in.
“When he got arrested, I spoke to the police.
“They searched all my stuff – my car and van, which he had driven, for devices and things like that.
“Of course I didn’t know about it.
“He wasn’t near my kids long enough to do anything but he also did work for other people who have children.
“He seemed like a nice and friendly guy.
“I met him through Facebook. I think he was able to con people.”
Struck up relationship with woman
Perrie also admitted breaking the SOPO by engaging in a relationship with a 39-year-old woman in Aberdeen and Brechin without informing the offender management unit.
That was a relationship Perrie rekindled from previously, shortly after the woman had a child with another man.
Finally, he broke the ultra-strict order – put in place to try and protect the public – by owning a Facebook Portal TV device last November.
He again failed to tell the offender management unit and claimed he bought it for his dying mother in Tenerife.
Serial offender caught numerous times
Perrie was made subject to the SOPO at Forfar Sheriff Court after being released from an eight year prison sentence.
It runs until September 2024.
Perrie was jailed in 2004 for being caught with a record breaking haul of abuse material, including 400,000 images and 16,000 video clips.
Already on the Sex Offenders Register for life, he was jailed again for 36 months in 2005 for similar offences.
When he was caught for a third time he was jailed for eight years in 2012 and Judge Lord Uist told him the material he was found with was “disgusting and repulsive.”
Lord Uist said: “These sentences clearly had no deterrent effect on you. It seems you are an incorrigible user of child pornography.”
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that some of the material was at the most extreme end of the scale and had been sourced from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
