Two ringleaders of child abuse network jailed for life

Men led largest paedophile ring in Scotland, responsible for 125,000 images and videos and abuse of friends' children
Lothian and Borders Police handout photos of paedophiles James Rennie (left) and Neil Strachan
Lothian and Borders police handout photos of James Rennie (left) and Neil Strachan, the two ringleaders of Scotland's biggest paedophile gang, who were jailed for life today. Photograph: Lothian and Borders Police/PA

Two men have been jailed for life for masterminding a child abuse conspiracy that included an "utterly appalling" attack on an infant boy and the assault of a three-month-old baby.

Neil Strachan, a convicted sex offender, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years in prison while his co-accused James Rennie, once an influential youth worker, was jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years at the high court in Edinburgh today.

Both men were given "lifelong restriction" orders, using powers introduced in 2006 for the most serious and violent sexual offenders, which will place them under risk assessment and management plans until they die.

Strachan and Rennie were ringleaders of Scotland's largest paedophile network, involving eight men who held 125,000 images and videos of child abuse. The ring was broken up in 2007 after a lengthy operation by Lothian and Borders police. Six other men have already received sentences ranging from two to 17 years.

The judge, Lord Bannatyne, said the pair were guilty of gross and appalling breaches of trust since both men had abused children entrusted to them for babysitting by close friends, and had photographed the abuse.

Strachan, 41, who is HIV-positive, had attempted to sodomise one 18-month-old boy on New Year's eve, taking a photograph known as the "Hogmanay image". Bannatyne said: "By its very nature, what is shown in that photograph is utterly appalling and would shock to the core any right-minded person who has had to see it.


The judge added: "You were in my view on the evidence a central player in this dreadful crime. You were one of the principal movers in the conspiracy."

Rennie, 38, had betrayed the parents of his victim, a three-month-old baby known as Child F who was also his godson, to a "truly appalling" extent by assaulting him over a four-year period.

Bannatyne likened Rennie, then co-ordinator of the gay rights agency LGBT Youth Scotland and a former teacher, to a spider "weaving an electronic web" to set up and then control their conspiracy..

The betrayal of Child F's parents "is truly appalling in its extent. These people had always stood by you; they had been there for you; given you their friendship; brought you into their lives and into the lives of their child (you were made their child's godfather); and they entrusted their child to you to look after. What did you do? You wholly betrayed that friendship and breached their trust in the grossest manner."

The pair, both from Edinburgh, were convicted of a string of child pornography charges, along with the six men previously jailed, and were further found guilty of conspiring to abuse children, as were three other members of the network, after a 10-week trial earlier this year.

Convicted for nine offences, Strachan, 41, was also jailed for attempting to rape the 18-month-old boy and sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy. Rennie, 38, was convicted of 14 offences including molesting a young boy over more than four years, beginning when the child was aged three months.

Bannatyne imposed a restriction order, similar to a life sentence, on both men as likely to "seriously endanger the physical wellbeing of a member of the public", and banned them from ever working with children.

The police investigation, Operation Algebra, used techniques pioneered in the US to identify digital cameras used for some images and recover emails from Microsoft using US court warrants. Sophisticated tracking equipment was used to trace Rennie's wi-fi broadband at his home.

The board of LGBT Youth Scotland said today there was no evidence any of the youths assisted by their agency were assaulted by Rennie, and "whole-heartedly welcomed" the convictions. It added: "LGBT Youth Scotland abhors any abuse of children and young people's rights. It is with a particular sense of betrayal of our organisational purpose and values that we learned of the crimes committed by James Rennie, and we are utterly appalled by his abuse and exploitation of children."