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MONSTER ON RUN FROM JAIL RAPED 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL

Castle Huntly Jail

Thursday January 24,2008

By Rod Mills

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SCOTLAND'S justice system was condemned yesterday after a man admitted raping a schoolgirl while on the run from a controversial open prison.

Robert Foye, 28, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to assaulting the 16-year-old girl.

Foye, from Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, had been allowed out of Castle Huntly jail near Dundee to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting but did not return.

Fury erupted when it emerged he had been on the run for almost a week when he carried out the attack, while half way through a 10-year sentence for attempting to murder a policeman.

Foye raped the teenage virgin, a pupil at an upmarket Glasgow fee-paying school, as she walked home from visiting an optician in Cumbnernauld.

He had been allowed to leave the prison unescorted, and two police forces were alerted to hunt for him when he failed to return.

I am extremely concerned that such a dangerous individual should be allowed out, unescorted, to attend any kind of meeting

Paul Martin MSP

Paul Martin MSP, Labour's shadow community minister, last night called on Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to hold an urgent investigation into the case.

He said: "I am extremely concerned that such a dangerous individual should be allowed out, unescorted, to attend any kind of meeting.

"He was convicted of an extremely serious offence and to see someone in that situation released in this way is unacceptable.

"The justice minister needs to ensure that a top to bottom investigation is carried out into the circumstances leading to this incident.

"This offender had a significant part of his sentence still to serve. We've passed legislation recently to scrap

automatic release, and while we can debate on whether someone has been rehabilitated or not, this is a clear cut case where an individual has been put into a low security prison far too early. It's extremely concerning."

Charity Victim Support Scotland said such incidents continued to "undermine public faith in the Scottish criminal justice system".

Bill Aitken, Scottish Tory justice spokesman, added: "Why was this man in an open prison bearing in mind his earlier conviction for serious violence?

"Why is it that he and so many others can walk out of Castle Huntly with impunity? Once again a soft prison regime has created another needless victim."

Earlier, the High Court in Glasgow heard that six days after he absconded, Foye, was living rough in woods between Cumbernauld Village and Seafar, when he targeted his victim.

The girl, who bravely attended court yesterday, had been walking home in broad daylight after collecting new contact lenses when Foye pounced.

Foye apologised as his defence counsel, Paul McBride QC, claimed his client had been drinking all day when he raped her on August 24 last year.

The court heard how he asked the girl for the time, before seizing her, and forcing her into the woods, punching her several times on the head, eye, nose and mouth.

When she screamed Foye ordered her to shut up, and she decided it was in her best interest to co-operate.

Foye was arrested the next day, and although he denied being in the area, crime samples from the victim matched his DNA profile.

The girl returned to school soon after to begin her fifth year, but the attack had an impact on her schooling and she was absent for several weeks.

She is now attending counselling and has returned to school on a part time basis.

The judge, Lady Smith, described the girl’s victim impact statement as "distressing and upsetting", and branded Foye’s crime "appalling".

She called for reports to determine whether Foye should be given a restriction order so he could be monitored for life. He will be sentenced next month.

Foye was jailed in 2002 for attempting to murder a detective who challenged him over a stolen car.

He put the vehicle into reverse and hit the officer, leaving him with brain damage.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: "We believe that the open estate plays a very valuable role in helping us provide information about how offenders are progressing in addressing their offending behaviour.

"There is no process of risk assessment that it is 100 per cent foolproof."

MONSTER

24.01.08, 10:40pm

Burn him alive. Yes I know capital punishment is not a deterrant, so what, as a revenge/get the scum off the planet policy, works for me!
I'd also birch the prats who let him out.

• Posted by: miasara • Report Comment