A convicted child sex offender has been forced to flee his home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, after vandals targeted the property during an angry neighbourhood protest. Calum MacFadyen, 45, was escorted away by police on Saturday afternoon as demonstrators jeered, following an attack on his two-bedroom house on Friday.
Protest turns to vandalism
Local residents have been demonstrating outside MacFadyen's home on Stoneybank Road this week, calling for him to be removed from the area. Police officers had been patrolling the front and rear of the property as protestor numbers grew and tensions escalated.
On Friday afternoon, the property was attacked. Photographs taken shortly after show all the front windows had been smashed, before council workmen were called out to put up wooden boards to cover the damage. Two male youths, aged 14 and 15, were arrested in connection with the vandalism and are due to appear in court at a later date.
Residents' anger and fear
Footage posted on social media shows MacFadyen flanked by officers as he was escorted away from the property on Saturday, with one demonstrator heard shouting: “You come back - we’ll be back.”
A local resident said: “We have been protesting about this man’s presence in our community for months now but nothing seems to be getting done about him. We have approached the council, the police and even our MSP in an attempt to have him moved but no one is taking this situation seriously. The last time we demonstrated he ran out his house carrying large knives and assaulted two women by striking them with a kitchen pan. He is a complete menace and it was just good fortune no one was badly injured or even killed that day. There are women and children living in fear because of him living here and we are at our wit’s end. I certainly don’t condone what happened to the house on Friday night but people are getting to the end of their patience. The police have been here every night protecting him but in truth it’s our children and families who need protecting from him. Momentum is gathering again this time and though we believe he has left for the time being we will not give up until he is forced away from the area permanently.”
Police response and offender's history
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 3.05pm on Friday, 12 September we received a report of a crowd gathering and vandalism at a property on Stoneybank Road in Musselburgh. Officers attended and two male youths aged 14 and 15 were arrested and charged in connection. They were released on an undertaking to appear in court on a later date.”
MacFadyen was jailed for 100 days and placed on the sex offenders register for five years for possessing indecent images of children in 2013. He was forced from his home in Haddington following a residents’ protest and moved to nearby Musselburgh around two years ago. On August 24 last year, he confronted protestors while carrying two large kitchen knives outside the Musselburgh property. Mobile phone footage captured the incident and MacFadyen was jailed for 190 days for the offence in November last year. He was also found guilty of a breach of the peace charge earlier this year after clashing with an angry parent in the grounds of a primary school in Musselburgh last year. Sheriff Frank Gill imposed a structured deferred sentence and MacFadyen will return to court for sentencing later this year.
