Neil Strachan, a 58-year-old convicted child abuser once branded "sadistic and aggressive" by a High Court judge, has been released from prison on licence. He was jailed as part of a child abuse network alongside James Rennie, a former SNP government adviser on child sex issues and ex-chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, who was freed several months earlier. The release has prompted concern from Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr, who called it "truly sickening" and demanded assurances that Strachan will be monitored for the rest of his life.

Strachan, who was held at Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee, was convicted of attempting to rape an 18-month-old boy and of downloading child abuse images; Rennie was jailed separately for molesting the toddler son of family friends. Strachan's minimum sentence of 16 years was cut to nine years by appeal judges in 2011, while Rennie served eight-and-a-half years. Both men, from Edinburgh, are subject to Orders for Lifelong Restriction, meaning release required Parole Board approval and they remain on licence indefinitely. The Scottish Prison Service declined to comment on individual prisoners.