Child sex offender jailed after brandishing knives at neighbours staging protest outside Musselburgh home
A convicted child sex offender who brandished two knives as he attacked his neighbours who were staging a peaceful protest outside his home has been jailed.
Calum MacFadyen, 45, confronted the protestors with the two large blades as they held the small demonstration in the street outside his home in Musselburgh, East Lothian.
Shocking mobile phone footage captured MacFadyen attacking one woman by striking her to the head with a silver kitchen pan before he then lashed out and kicked her to the body.
MacFadyen is then seen running into his house before reappearing armed with two kitchen knives where he approaches the terrified neighbours at around 8.30pm on August 24 this year.
Police were alerted to the violent disturbance and MacFadyen was arrested and charged and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court the following day where he was remanded in custody. He was back in the dock at the capital court on November 7 where he pleaded guilty to three charges of assault, two of possessing offensive weapons and one of committing breach of the peace.
Sheriff Francis Gill sentenced MacFadyen to a 190 day jail term backdated to his remand date of August 25 this year.
A neighbour, who did not wish to be identified, said: “We’ve known about MacFadyen’s past for a while now after he moved here about seven months ago. There have been protests about his presence before and some residents decided to have a silent protest outside his house again in August.
“We were being very peaceful and not creating a disturbance but he came running out and started to attack some of us, mainly women I must say.“He hit one woman on the head with a pan and kicked her on the body. He then ran into his house and came running back out into the street with two huge knives.
“We couldn’t believe what was happening and I really thought he was going to stab someone - it was terrifying. There is lots of families with young children in this area and we don’t want someone like him living here.
“I’m glad he got the jail but I just worry about what will happen when he gets out and wants to come back here as a lot of the families are really terrified as to what he will do next.”
MacFadyen was previously jailed for 100 days and placed on the sex offenders register for five years after being caught with a collection of indecent images of children in 2013.
McFadyen was also found guilty of attempting to coerce three young schoolgirls into a wooded area after claiming a family member had gone missing following a trial at the capital’s sheriff court earlier year.
He denied the offence but was found to have behaved in a threatening or abusive manner trying to lure the children into the woods near his former home in Haddington, East Lothian, between June 6 and July 31, 2024.
Sheriff Ian Anderson imposed a community payback order with a 12 month supervision element but did not place him on the sex offenders register on that occasion.
MacFadyen was also hounded out of his former home in Haddington last summer and concerned residents protested outside his home for around two weeks. He eventually fled the area after windows were smashed and paint daubed on the walls on the outside of the property.