The family of Dundee gran Linda McDonald is urging the parole board to reject murderer Robbie McIntosh’s bid to get out of jail.
Their 11th hour plea comes on the eve of McIntosh’s parole hearing on Monday – the day after the fifth anniversary of his attack on Linda on August 7, 2017.
In an interview with the Courier a close family member, who has asked not to be named, says it is inconceivable McIntosh should be allowed out of prison.
The family spokesman says Linda’s greatest fear and belief is that if granted parole McIntosh will “come back and finish me off”.
“McIntosh will strike again”
He said that the family are also in no doubt that if freed from prison McIntosh will strike again.
It’s understood that McIntosh’s parole tribunal hearing on Monday will be virtual.
Linda has been invited to attend as a silent witness. However, while Linda says that in many ways she would like to attend she still hasn’t decided if she will join the hearing.
Speaking on behalf of Linda the family member says the Scottish Parole Board must reject McIntosh’s bid to be granted parole.
The thug was jailed in October 2017 after admitting the attempted murder of Linda McDonald in Templeton Woods in August that year.
He was sentenced to a lifelong restriction order with a minimum of five years before he could be considered for release on licence.
McIntosh was on home leave from prison, while serving a life sentence for the 2001 murder of Anne Nicoll, when he bludgeoned Linda with a dumb bell leaving her for dead and fighting for her life.
“Under no circumstances should McIntosh be granted parole”
The family member said: “I am pleading on behalf of Linda that McIntosh should, under no circumstances be granted parole.
“This lad is sick. Aged only 15 he carried out the brutal murder of Anne Nicoll then when he was granted bail previously, he attacked Linda in the most dreadful way.
“He must not be allowed out of prison. He needs help. He must be kept in prison where he can never do anything like this ever again.”
The spokesman added: “Linda’s absolute fear is that he may come out and do something to her, to finish her off, or do something dreadful to someone else if he is allowed back into the community.”
He added that Linda and her family believe that McIntosh has bluffed the system already and he will do so again.
He said: “This parole hearing has caused real fear for all of us. If McIntosh is granted parole there will be an uproar.
“It doesn’t even bear thinking about and I honestly don’t know what we will do.
“We would need to go back and ask for a full explanation why he was deemed fit to be granted parole.
“We would also need to find out what sort of controls would be put in place.
“For example where would he go.”
Linda: “Authorities must take responsibility”
The last time McIntosh was allowed to live at his mother’s home at Bridgefoot – walking distance from where he attacked Linda.
Linda has long blamed the authorities for allowing McIntosh to be in the position to be able to attack.
In an exclusive interview with the Courier in May Linda said she no longer hated McIntosh.
She said she now believed he is as much a victim of the system as she is.
Linda previously wrote a letter to the Scottish Parole Board explaining why she believed McIntosh must not be granted parole.
She said: “I find it hard to take this all in. It seems it’s all about the rights of the criminal with no consideration at all for the victim.”
Her letter to the parole board included: “Whilst acknowledging that people who commit crimes have certain rights, there are individuals like McIntosh who require, indeed need, to be incarcerated for life to keep the public safe.
“My life and that of my family changed the day I was attacked.
“I’m still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as I deal with the trauma of the attack.”
She added: “When considering that five years following the attack I am still awaiting answers to why McIntosh was released, yet you are contacting me to advise that he can be considered for parole, is inconceivable and the sense of personal injustice is overwhelming.”
The parole board’s letter advises Linda that, should the board grant McIntosh parole, she will receive a summary of the reasons for that decision – unless she declines to be told.
Justice4Linda
Linda has since launched Justice4Linda, a new campaign which calls for more answers about failings in the system which allowed this to happen to her.
She wants to see tighter measures to ensure high-risk offenders are better monitored to stop anyone else going through what happened to her.
A review into what went wrong was released in 2019.
It found a psychological assessment of McIntosh carried out in 2012 indicated a high risk of re-offending.
However, the report added his attack on Linda “could not have been predicted”.
A spokeswoman for the parole board said: “We do not comment on individual cases.”
