An online predator who was placed in a Fife sheltered housing complex has been moved after “terrified” residents complained.
It is understood Ronald Myers, 69, who was snared in a sting operation after sending naked pictures of himself to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, left the complex in Cardenden on Friday afternoon following a meeting involving Fife Council officials and residents.
A local source said the episode had left elderly and vulnerable residents at the local authority run Ore Valley sheltered homes concerned for their safety.
And a relative said she wanted it known that Myers was no longer at Ore Valley because there had been fears that vigilantes might have targeted the building.
“It wasn’t about that individual. It was about the wider risk to vulnerable, elderly people,” she said.
“There was terror from within and terror about what might come from outside.”
The relative praised local councillors who had spoken up on behalf of the residents.
“They worked really hard and in the end common sense prevailed,” she said.
“It was about the safety issue and about vulnerable adults who don’t have anybody advocating on their behalf.
“We have to speak out for these people. We have to make as much noise as possible because we can’t have people being terrified in their own homes.”
Fife Council said it could not comment on individual cases.
But a spokesperson for Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) said: “MAPPA are in place to ensure that registered sex offenders are effectively managed.
“The management of sex offenders is treated with the highest priority and all the relevant partner agencies continue to take robust steps to protect the public.”
Myers appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court earlier this month after sending online messages including explicit pictures to someone he thought was an underage girl called Shazza.
The retired bus driver told teenager Shazza “that is what makes babies” and added, “you can see the real thing when you get here babe”.
But Shazza was in fact a decoy profile set up by paedophile hunters who then turned up at Myers’ door in Kelty.
Myers admitted that between August 15 and 21 at his then home in Loch Leven Terrace, Kelty, he sent messages of a sexual nature to a person he believed was under the age of 16, attempted to cause them to look at a sexual image and via online applications sent still images and video images of a sexual nature.
A defence solicitor said in court that Myers, who has lived alone since being divorced 37 years ago, was “flattered” by the attention and was “disgusted with what was said in the chats”.
