Convicted sex offender forced from his home

A convicted child sex offender has been forced to flee after his home was targeted by vandals during an angry neighbourhood protest.

Local residents have been demonstrating outside the home of Calum MacFadyen in a bid to have him removed from his property in Musselburgh, East Lothian, this week.

Police officers have been patrolling the front and rear of the two bedroom house as protestor numbers grew in size and tensions spilled over when the property was attacked on Friday afternoon. (11.09)

Pictures taken shorty 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 attack and are due to appear in court at a later date.

MacFadyen was then jeered by protestors while being escorted away from the property by police on Saturday afternoon.

Footage posted on social media shows MacFadyen flanked by officers and one demonstrator can 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.”

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, 45, 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.

He then confronted protestors while carrying two large kitchen knives outside the Musselburgh property on August 24 last year.

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.