January 2015

Paedophile gets five years’ jail for abusing girls

A 58 year old man from Lerwick who sexually abused two primary school age children in the 1980s and 1990s has been sent to prison for five years.

Alan Scollay, whose address was given as Grodians, appeared from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday to learn his fate after previously admitting a string of charges against a girl aged between 5 and 10, and another aged 11.

Sheriff Philip Mann said at the case’s last hearing in December that he had been considering referring the case to the High Court, such was the seriousness of the offences.

Scollay previously pled guilty to targeting one girl between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1999 at two addresses in Shetland.

The 58 year old used a video camera to film some of the abuse and forced his victim to watch adult pornography with him.

The victim only came forward now out of fear he might abuse in the future.

The court also heard that Scollay abused a girl aged 11 between 1 October 1982 and 7 February 1983 at a separate address, at one point locking himself into a Wendy house with his victim and another infant.

Defence agent Tommy Allan admitted he had “no mitigation” to offer as there was “no excuse” for Scollay’s actions.

The solicitor did say that his client had a “willingness to deal with his attitudes to that sort of behaviour” and was prepared to “tackle” his issues.

He added that the offences have caused Scollay a “great deal of guilt” and that Scollay acknowledges he has “hurt his victims very badly”.

Sheriff Mann concluded by stating the offences were of the “utmost seriousness” and have caused the two women to “suffer greatly”.

He sentenced Scollay to four years in jail for the offences carried out in the 1990s.

Sheriff Mann jailed Scollay for a further year for the abuse that took place in the 1980s.

The sheriff also gave Scollay an extended sentence of five years to enable him to take advantage of support available upon his release from prison.

May 2009

Pervert gets community service for child abuse images

A man who held hundreds of indecent and abusive images of children on a computer memory stick narrowly escaped being given a jail term when he appeared for sentencing at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Alan Scollay, 51, of Strand, Gott, was instead ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service by sheriff Graeme Napier – the maxi­mum amount of hours of voluntary work sheriff courts can hand down.

He will be registered as a sex offender, but sheriff Napier stopped short of recommending that the government ban him from working with children after a psychologist’s report ruled he did not pose a threat to youngsters.

Scollay, a musician who was said in court to have been an active mem­ber of the community before the offence came to light, had previously admitted having almost 700 disturb­ing images on a memory stick between March and June 2007.

On Wednesday he sat sullen and ashen-faced in the dock as sheriff Napier was shown a representative selection of images that were found on the computer disk.

One of the pictures was rated as being a “category five” – the most serious category for child abuse images – while 116 of them were classed as being on the second most serious scale, or category four.

Sheriff Napier said he found some of the category four images, which were shown as thumbnail sketches, more disturbing than the category five picture.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Scollay had been suffering from severe stress at the time of the offence, and added the psychologist’s report confirmed his behaviour was a reaction to the strain he had been living under.

He said Scollay had simply prog­ressed to the sites after browsing adult pornography on the internet, adding he had never paid money for any of the pictures, which were freely available for anyone to download.

He had put the images on the memory stick to prevent anyone else from seeing them.

“There seemed to be a pattern when he was accessing other porn and got drawn to ever more abhor­rent images,” Mr Allan said.

“There is no lack of willingness on Mr Scollay’s part to explore what was behind this and face up to it and deal with who ever he is required to work with.”

He said it was “no exaggeration” to say his client had “lost everything” since the offence had come to light, and added Scollay and his family had already been effectively serving a sentence with the case hanging over them for almost two years.

“He accepts he is likely to lose his job, which is not just a means of income, it is something that is important to him,” Mr Allan said.

“He is someone who has had a strong work ethic in the past, and he has had a good standing in the community.

“He is aware he may never be able to build up that trust again, and he appreciates a lot of people are quite rightly offended by this kind of behaviour and will never look at him in the same way again.”

Mr Allan said although Scollay’s wife was in court, the two were no longer living together. He added that Scollay had virtually given up his music, as he was not made welcome at venues he went to, and had be­come a “virtual recluse” as a result.

The court heard Scollay had since accepted there was “real suffering” behind the photos, and that child pornography was not a victim-less crime.

“He’s made the connection back into reality,” Mr Allan said.

“He himself is abhorred by these images, and understands fully the indignation people will feel in relation to it. He is someone who has previo­usly been not just someone of good behaviour, but of good character.”

Sheriff Napier said he was entitled to jail Scollay for up to five years for the offence, however Mr Allan said the psychologist’s report had shown he was no more of a risk to children than any other hetro­-sexual male, and he would be willing to comply with a probation order.

Sheriff Napier said while the images were disturbing, they were not the most serious he had seen during his experience as a sheriff. “I think given what is said in the psychological report and given what has been said on your behalf, I can deal with this matter by way of a non-custodial sentence. However, it will be one that involves the maxi­mum number of community service hours I am entitled to impose, and that will be 300 hours.”

March 2009

Musician left indecent images of children on ferry

A Shetland musician admitted possessing almost 700 indecent images of children on a computer memory stick he left on a ferry.

Alan Scollay, 51, was warned he may face a prison sentence after he pled guilty at Lerwick Sheriff Court.

The court heard that one of the images was at the most serious end of the scale.

He will be sentenced on 22 April after the sheriff has considered reports including a psychological assessment.

Scollay, who lives in the village of Gott, lost the memory stick on board an inter-island ferry on 7 June, 2007.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told the court 693 abusive images were found, 500 of them classed in the least serious level of child pornography but one of them at the top end of the scale.

He said an employee on the ferry took the USB storage device home, intending to trace its owner.

When he saw the images it contained, he handed it to police who were able to link it to Scollay.

Musician and council employee Scollay told police he drifted into downloading child pornography due to marriage problems and stress at work.

Defence solicitor Tommy Allan told the court that his client was determined to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.