A man has criticised the legal system after being fined £500 for swearing at a convicted sex offender.
Ged McLellan, 50, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court after being convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause Gary Brown and his wife fear or alarm.
The confrontation happened on Aberlady Crescent in May.
Speaking after being given his fine, Ged, of Duns Crescent, said: “I am totally disgusted with the system and lost for words.
“I’d love to appeal this but it costs money, which I have not got.”
He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted at an earlier trial of shouting “******* paedophile” at him then adding: “You better move from this area or else.”
Ged told the Tele: “I did swear and call him a ******* paedophile. But I didn’t say: ‘move from this area or else’, what I did say was: ‘why are you still in the area?’ But it was their word against mine and there was the two of them, him and his wife.”
Brown had also been sentenced at the same court, after he admitted trading indecent images of children on a messaging app with other sex offenders, plus possessing bestiality images. The court was told that Brown admitted to police his preference was “for homemade and granny porn” and that he had “no sexual interest in children” but he confessed to sharing the images of children being abused.
Ged has since been overwhelmed by the public support he received and a crowdfunding page that was set up to help pay his penalty.
He said: “The response from the general public has been fantastic. As I said, I was disgusted at the system but this news of the crowdfunding page and the support messages on Facebook has been great; and I would like to thank the person or people behind the page.
“I don’t know who did it. It is random but it has helped me.”
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