Former gay charity head jailed for sex attack on baby
The former head of a Scottish LGBT youth charity has been sentenced to serve at least 13 years in prison today.
James Rennie, 38, was convicted in May of sexually assaulting three-month-old baby. The abuse continued for four years.
Convicted sex offender Neil Strachan, 41, was convicted of attempting to rape an 18-month-old boy and indecently touching a six-year-old boy.
Strachan was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison.
The two men were also found guilty of conspiring to abuse children.
They were involved in what is thought to be Scotland’s biggest known paedophile network.
Six other men, Ross Webber, 27, of North Berwick, Craig Boath, 24, from Dundee, Colin Slaven, 24, from Edinburgh, and John Milligan, 40, Neil Campbell, 46, and John Murphy, 44, all from Glasgow, received sentences ranging from two to 17 years in June.
Nearly 125,000 indecent images were seized during Operation Algebra, which uncovered the internet group.
The men had used web cameras and other means to plot and take part in sexual offences, including rape.
The offences were committed in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and East Lothian between February 2004 to May 2008.
Rennie was the former head of LGBT Youth Scotland.
When arrested he told the police: “Today I know I have lost just about everything I have worked so hard for a long time. I knew this day was coming.”
Rennie was suspended from his post in December 2007 when he was arrested and resigned in February 2008.
In a statement released today, the board of LGBT Youth Scotland said there was no evidence he had abused any children in his capacity at the charity.
It read: “James Rennie ceased to be employed by LGBT Youth Scotland in February 2008, after we had immediately suspended him on being informed of his arrest, and had subsequently begun a disciplinary process, during which he resigned.
“Lothian and Borders Police have been clear that their investigations related to James Rennie personally, and not to his work role, nor the organisation he worked for at the time of his arrest. We had no suspicion whatsoever of the crimes James Rennie was committing outwith his working life.
“That there is no suggestion that James Rennie did, or had the opportunity to, threaten the safety of young people accessing services at his work is due to the culture of child protection within LGBT Youth Scotland, which is backed up by robust policies.”
