Mother of 8-year-old Mark Cummings killed by rehoused sex offender tells Holyrood to get tough on pa
A MOTHER whose son was killed by a convicted paedophile is once again urging Holyrood to take action – because she can’t bear the agony of hearing about more child victims.
Margaret Ann Cummings’s son Mark was eight when he was murdered by Stuart Leggate in Royston, Glasgow, in 2004.
And she has spent more than a decade campaigning for changes to the way serious sex offenders are managed when they are released from prison.
Margaret Ann said: “Every time I hear another story about a child or a victim it brings back the years of heartache.
“It takes you right back to the very beginning when I lost Mark and knowing that another family are going through the same thing, searching for those answers.
“Sex offenders are still hiding in the community, they are being let out of jail without spending adequate time there and they are not being properly treated when they are there – so they are still a danger when they come out.”
Margaret Ann, 40, was at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to watch her MSP Paul Martin lead a member’s debate calling for a review.
Campaigners want a web-based public registry containing information about high-risk sex offenders, which can be searched by name or postcode. They also say convicted sex offenders should have to disclose information about their convictions during the housing application process and that sentencing tariffs for them should be reviewed.
A recommendation by a Holyrood committee in 2006 for sex offenders to disclose details of convictions on housing forms has still not been implemented by the Scottish Government.
Margaret Ann added: “I want change so that the children are protected, victims are protected and sex offenders know that they are monitored out in the community by the community – not just leaving it in the hands of the police and the social workers.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCrnZOkv6V6wqhlrqNfo7K4v46smqispJ7AqXnNnq6sZ52kwamx0WZvZrGVlr9uu8udZKaZoqB6d4WTcm1waQ%3D%3D