A convicted child sex offender was able to leave the country on a family holiday without telling police, despite being spotted by an off-duty officer while boarding his flight.
Paedophile Paul Scally, 42, was spotted by a police officer in Edinburgh Airport as he left on a family holiday to the Canary island Fuertaventura.
The officer was part of Police Scotland’s sex offender policing unit and noticed Scally as he waited to board his own flight at 4.45am.
The officer alerted colleagues but due to the early hour, the message was not picked up until the sex offender, from Newburgh, had already left the country.
Scally had been sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted in 2015 of sexual offences against a child under the age of 13.
Spotted leaving country illegally
Depute fiscal Lynn Manion told Dundee Sheriff Court: “His is subject to the notification requirements of the sex offenders register following a conviction on indictment on February 19 2015.
“He was sentenced to a period of imprisonment and made subject to the Sex Offenders Register.
“On his release from prison he was given a leaflet notifying him of the requirements, which he signed to acknowledge.
“At around 4:45 am on September 8 2022, a police officer from the sex offender’s policing unit was off-duty, waiting to board a flight at Edinburgh Airport, when he saw the accused and family members in the airport travelling as a group.
“This was reported to the unit, however due to the information being sent in the early hours of the morning it was not picked up until several hours later.
“A check of police systems revealed that the accused had not registered the foreign travel notification and accordingly breached his sexual offender notification requirement.
“A marker was placed on the police national computer for the accused.
“Police were alerted he would return from Fuertaventura on September 15 at 4:45pm.
“He was apprehended as he left the flight, cautioned and charged and made no reply.”
Sheriff George Way deferred sentence on Scally until January 23 2023.
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