Rapist preyed on young girl in care

Nov 28 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A CONVICTED rapist and registered sex offender sent a string of text messages to a vulnerable 14-year-old girl asking her to meet him and inviting her to his home, where he had drugs and alcohol.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that at the time, 32-year-old David Baillie McMillan was the subject of an interim Sexual Offences Prevention Order, banning him from having any unsupervised contact with females under 16.

He is considered a high risk offender and subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements, explained depute fiscal Chris Mackintosh.

The accused, whose name has been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for an indefinite period, had been released from prison just 10 days before he started contacting the teenager, the court heard.

She was in care, residing at a “place of safety” at the time.

She had formed a “proper friendship” with a male and they had each other’s telephone numbers stored in their mobiles.

McMillan came into possession of the mobile after it had been left in his house, and he began contacting the girl.

The teenager started receiving calls, initially thinking they were from her friend, but the accused later told her he had the phone and asked her to meet him.

Over five-days the girl received “repeated” calls and text messages asking to meet her.

“The accused gave the complainer his address and on at least two occasions the accused told her he had alcohol and drugs available,” added Mr Mackintosh.

He called himself Baillie, his middle name, gave her a physical description of himself and said she “sounded really nice.”

The depute fiscal added: “The complainer became worried about the accused’s persistence in contacting her and at no time did she agree to meet.”

There were further attempts at contact and she “became increasingly alarmed,” particularly after being told about the accused’s background.

The matter came to light after the girl was reported as a missing person and McMillan was eventually arrested.

He initially claimed he had never been in touch and didn’t know her but later admitted he had.

Advocate Craig Thomson, for McMillan, said the accused believed the girl was about 19 and it had been accepted by the prosecution they had never met face to face.

He stressed that his client was “in no way linked” to the missing person inquiry carried out by the police.

McMillan admitted contacting the girl from addresses in Glenearn Road and St Catherine’s Square, both Perth, between July 28 and August 2, 2008.

That was in breach of the interim Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed at Perth Sheriff Court on May 27, 2008.

He will be sentenced on December 18 after social inquiry, psychological, community service and restriction of liberty order reports have been prepared.

McMillan asked for bail but Sheriff Michael Fletcher remanded him in custody, stating there was a “substantial risk” of him re-offending.

In 1996, aged 19, McMillan was jailed for life for the brutal rape of a frail, 73-year-old former teacher in Oban.

But that sentence was later cut on appeal to nine years after it was ruled the original jail term was “excessive.”

He also propositioned a 13-year-old Perth girl in a local park and was jailed for 18 months at the Sheriff Court in January, 2007, for committing a breach of the peace at the South Inch on August 19, 2006.

He frightened the teenager by engaging her in conversation, asking her if she was single and if she would go out with him.

The court was told he was on probation at the time of an earlier stalking offence when he followed an 18-year-old girl through Perth city centre to her home in Dundee Road and made her believe he was going to attack her.

McMillan was subsequently freed from his 18-month sentence and made the subject of a nine-month supervised release order.

Within days he had breached conditions and was returned to Perth Prison to serve the rest of his sentence.