A peadophile who changed his identity to hide his past has been jailed for a devious bid to reinvent himself as a respectable family man and business owner.
Steven MacDonald – who was branded one of the country’s worst sex offenders and a danger to the public – came up with the cunning plan to hide his criminal background.
He was able to gain access to the child of a new business associate who had no idea who he really was, thanks to the legal name change which cost him just £42.44.
And MacDonald, 55, who was previously known as Steven Perrie, was even able to move in with a woman and her child despite it being a breach of strict court conditions he was placed under.
Sheriff Richard MacFarlane jailed MacDonald for 232 days at Dundee Sheriff Court after noting that social workers still considered him a serious danger to the public.
The court was told that MacDonald – who has been jailed for previous sex crimes – defied numerous strict conditions of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).
“You do not see yourself as presenting a risk to anyone,” Sheriff MacFarlane said. “The author of the report is concerned about you.
“They consider you pose a risk of causing serious harm in the community.
“What is required of you is not rocket science.”
The court previously heard how MacDonald, from Montrose, changed his name after being jailed for a number of high-profile sex crimes including having a record haul of child porn.
MacDonald admitted failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements by having a Barclays Mastercard between May 1, 2019, and November 19, 2020.
He admitted breaking a ban on having contact with kids by spending time with a business associate’s six-year-old son numerous times in 2019.
The sex offender also admitted breaking the SOPO by engaging in a relationship with a mum, 39, in Aberdeen and Brechin without informing the offender management unit.
Finally, he broke the ultra-strict order – put in place to protect the public –by owning a Facebook Portal TV device last November. The business associate, who cannot be named, said: “It was a shock to discover what he’d been involved in.”
