Probe into evil Scots killer's copycat murder bid after prison release branded a farce

A convicted killer’s horrific attack on a dog walker while he was on home leave from prison could not have been prevented, a report has claimed.

A probe was launched after Robbie McIntosh, 32, battered Linda McDonald, 54, with a dumbbell in Templeton Woods, Dundee, in August 2017.

McIntosh had been jailed for life in 2002 for stabbing a dog walker to death on Dundee Law when he was 15.

He was being prepared for release on parole at the time of the attack on Linda.

Robbie McIntosh was on home leave from prison when he attacked Linda McDonald (Handout)

A report said while there was nothing in McIntosh’s behaviour to suggest an attack was imminent, changes had to be made to the way social work, police and prison bosses communicate about violent offenders.

After reading the report, Linda said: “An assessment carried out on him stated he carried a high risk of harm to the public yet he was allowed out of prison to attack me. This should not have been allowed to happen.”

Robbie McIntosh was previously jailed for life in 2002 for stabbing a dog walker to death on Dundee Law when he was 15 (Newsline Media)

The Record had revealed that locals in Bridgefoot, near Dundee, warned the authorities about McIntosh’s behaviour in the weeks before he attacked Linda.

Last night, a furious resident described the report as a farce, adding: “We were reassured he was being monitored but this wasn’t happening.

In 2001, McIntosh stabbed civil servant Anne Nicoll 29 times in a frenzied attack. He was given leave on the 16th anniversary of the murder.

Police at the scene of the attack in Dundee (Alan Richardson)

Five days later, he attacked Linda without warning. She sustained two skull fractures, a badly damaged thumb and was left with permanent scars.

Days before the attack, Bridgefoot residents had highlighted their fears to local SNP councillor Beth Whiteside.

They told how McIntosh prowled the streets, stood outside homes in the shadows and sat by a fire in his back garden “in a hypnotic state”.

Linda McDonald, a mum and grandmother, was walking her Jack Russell terrier Betsy in Dundee's Templeton Woods in August 2017 when Robbie McIntosh attacked her (DC Thomson)

However, Angus Council said he was “being monitored” by “multiple” agencies.

The independent review was carried out under MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) – by an agency including the police, local authorities, health board and the Scottish Prison Service.

Robbie McIntosh was caught on CCTV returning home after the attack (Daily Record)

Review chair Elaine Torrance wrote: “This incident was as a consequence of the perpetrator’s actions alone and could not have been predicted.”

However, she made recommendations including new risk management and release protocols by the SPS.