Pedophile who inflicted 'calculated and predatory sexual abuse' on children for four decades dies in prison
A pedophile, who was in jail for raping a girl and preying on children as young as four, has died while serving the sentence. John Harrison from Ayrshire, Scotland, was serving his eight-year jail term in HMP Barlinnie when he died last Monday, April 13.
However, his death is not related to coronavirus and as per reports, a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be launched to investigate his death. “John Harrison, 73, a prisoner from HMP Barlinnie has died. He was convicted at Glasgow High Court in June 2019. Police Scotland have been informed and the matter reported to the procurator fiscal. A Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course," a spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said.
Harrison was sent behind bars in June 2019 after it was proved he raped a girl and preyed on a total of seven girls and boys, who were as young as four. He attacked his victims from the 1960s through to the 1990s at different locations in Greenock, Inverclyde. He was also guilty of lewd and libidinous conduct.
During a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the 73-year-old had denied all the ten charges pressed against him. However, a judge hearing the case saw through his lies and sentenced him for eight years. Harrison, who previously resided in Greenock, was also placed on the sex offenders list indefinitely.
At the time, Judge Andrew Cubie said the pensioner was guilty of “calculated and predatory sexual abuse”.
“You express no acceptance for the offending. You maintain there was some kind of conspiracy or that they were motivated by some form of financial claim,” the judge added.
Meanwhile, a program launched to free low-risk offenders early amid the coronavirus crisis has been paused after six inmates were released by mistake. According to reports, the initial plan was to temporarily release up to 4,000 prisoners from the jails in England and Wales to control the spread of the COVID-19.
However, after the “administrative error” was discovered, they all “returned compliantly to prison”, a spokeswoman of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said. Soon the Government early release scheme, which was planned to avoid thousands of often cell-sharing prisoners becoming infected to the deadly virus, was stopped with immediate effect on Thursday, April 16. It has been said that the service will resume next week.
During the initial launch of the program, the MoJ had said selected low-risk offenders would be released from prison. However, for security reasons, they would be electronically tagged and could be recalled if they would pose any risk.
The Prison Service has blamed human error for the lapse and said they will strengthen the process. “We are aware of a small number of low-risk offenders who were released from prison under the temporary early release scheme following an administrative error. The men were released too early but were otherwise eligible under the scheme, and returned compliantly to prison when asked to do so. We have strengthened the administrative processes around the scheme to make sure this does not happen again,” the spokeswoman added.