A girl of 15 was sexually assaulted when an offender who was on 24/7 watch in the community slipped out of his flat.
The Scottish Prison Service said Mark Louden died in Perth Prison on September 9 last year. He had been remanded when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for the assault in August.
Louden, who was put on the sex offenders’ register many years ago for abducting two small girls in Fife, had been managed in the community for several years. The most serious offenders are managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, (MAPPA) with local authorities playing leading roles.
Louden, 54, had been placed in a small first-floor flat in Glenrothes. Council staff were ever-present. The flat was alarmed so he could not slip out unnoticed.
It’s understood he often asked to go out on to a fenced porch to smoke, so the alarm was turned off. It was reset when he came in.
A source said: “It seems that because he was in and out so often, some staff just did away with constantly setting and turning off the alarm. One day last summer he took his chances and absconded.”
By the time Louden was caught, a girl had endured a serious sexual assault nearby. Rona Laskowski, head of critical care services at Fife Health and Social Care, said: “We do not discuss individual cases.”
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