Police are searching for a convicted child rapist who escaped from staff during escorted community leave in Scotland.
Cliff Lyons Dobbie, a restricted patient, absconded from Perth city centre on Friday (August 7). He was found guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl in Glasgow while on bail for sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in 1990. He has been kept in secure units, including State Hospital Carstairs, ever since.
Public advised not to approach
Dobbie is currently being treated as a missing person by Police Scotland, and efforts are ongoing to locate him. The public are advised not to approach him.
Inspector Kris McCall said: "We want to trace Cliff, who also uses the name Clifford Lyons or Dobbie, as quickly as possible.
"I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has seen or spoken to him since Thursday August 6. He has links to Glasgow and the surrounding areas.
"The public should not approach him but should report any sighting to Police Scotland."
Description and links
Dobbie is white, about 5ft 3in, and of stocky and muscular build. He is bald, has blue eyes, and has a noticeable squint which is more apparent when he is not wearing his glasses. He was last seen wearing white trainers, light blue ripped jeans, a salmon-coloured golf shirt and a light blue jumper.
He also wore a black cap and thick black-rimmed glasses. Dobbie was carrying a black backpack and a black puffer jacket.
The police have described him as having distinctive tattoos on both arms, including an image of two blue tiger-like eyes on his right arm and a blue and red Rangers tattoo on his left arm. He speaks with a pronounced Glaswegian accent.
How to report
Anyone who has information about his location is urged to contact the police immediately on 101 or 999, or speak to any officer using incident number 1696 of August 6.
The State Hospital (often simply called Carstairs) is Scotland's most notorious "hospital-prison". It is the country's only maximum-security psychiatric facility, run by NHS Scotland rather than the prison service. Around 140 male patients from Scotland and Northern Ireland are held there because clinicians and courts believe they pose a serious risk to themselves or the public.
Carstairs operates as a locked-down blend of high-security containment and forensic mental health care, dealing with some of the most complex and dangerous individuals in the system. A significant number have been convicted of extreme violence - including homicide - while others are detained because of severe, treatment-resistant mental illness such as schizophrenia, or serious personality disorders that make them exceptionally hard to manage safely.
