Hundreds of sex offenders changed their names to avoid detection in the past three years.
Police Scotland have received 521 notices of the criminals – including paedophiles – taking on new identities since 2019. Sex offenders must notify the police about any name change but they are not prohibited from changing their names.
A freedom of information request found Scotland’s police force was notified 161 times of sex offenders changing their names in 2019-20, with 162 the following year. That rose to a record 198 in 2021-22. Serial killer Peter Tobin used the name Pat McLaughlin to get work at the church in Glasgow where he raped and murdered Angelika Kluk in 2006.
At the time he was on parole for the rape of two teenage girls in England in 1994. Glasgow pensioner Esther Brown was raped and murdered by a man who changed his name shortly before the attack last year.
He had previously served a long sentence for rape. Tory MSP Russell Findlay called on the Government to close what he called a “dangerous loophole”.
He added: “It makes my blood run cold to think that hundreds of potentially dangerous sex offenders are free to wipe the slate clean and roam free in society with the full knowledge of the authorities.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Sex offender notification requirements apply to an individual, irrespective of what name they use. In Scotland the vast majority of registered sex offenders in the community comply with notification requirements. Those in breach face penalties of up to five years in prison.”
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