Tory councillor calls for are-think over child sex assault sentence

A CONSERVATIVE politician is calling for the sentence of a convicted child sex offender to be reviewed.

John Boyd at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

John Boyd, from Prestonpans, East Lothian, admitted sexually abusing a ten-year-old girl when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

The truck driver avoided a custodial sentence when he was sentenced at the city court last week sparking outrage within the local community.

Boyd, 54, was placed on a supervision order for three years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same length of time despite the court being told this is his third conviction of a similar nature.

Now Councillor Lachlan Bruce, the leader of the Conservative Group on East Lothian Council, is writing to the Lord Advocate asking for the sentence to be reviewed.

Writing in his column with the East Lothian Courier, Mr Bruce said: “It is decisions like these that lead to people protesting outside sex offenders’ homes because they no longer trust the criminal justice system to protect their children and families from these people.

“Our faith in the criminal justice system only works if we believe that justice is being served fairly and in this case, I think most people would agree it is not.”

Boyd, a father-of-two, was forced to flee from his home after protests from disgusted locals.

He pleaded guilty to forcing himself on the youngster by kissing her on the mouth and fondling her after luring the girl into a bedroom at her home.

He also sent the schoolgirl WhatsApp messages and texts declaring his love for her and telling her she was “beautiful”.

Boyd pleaded guilty to sending written sexual communication to a ten-year-old girl for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification and stating he would like to kiss her, touch her, ask her to send him photographs of herself, refer to taking her on holiday and making reference to her as his girlfriend at an address in Midlothian between June 28 and August 5 last year.

He also admitted to sexually assaulting the girl placing his arms around her, lifting her body off the ground, squeezing her buttocks and repeatedly kissing her on the mouth and sucking her bottom lip at the same address on August 5 last year.

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