An Aberdeenshire councillor is to lodge a formal complaint with Scotland’s freedom of information watchdog after his long-running campaign for details on sex offenders living in the north-east was dealt another blow.
For two years, veteran Liberal Democrat Sam Coull has been trying to find out how many convicted child molesters and rapists have settled in the Buchan area after being released from Peterhead Prison.
Mr Coull, who represents the Peterhead South ward, believes more and more freed inmates are making their homes in the area.
He has contacted various authorities using the Freedom of Information Act, including the Scottish Government, the Crown Office, the procurator fiscal service and Grampian Police.
He has asked how many inmates at Peterhead have, after serving their time, reoffended in Aberdeenshire and gone on to serve another stretch in the Buchan jail.
Last month, Scottish Prison Service staff at Peterhead said only one offender had been released into Aberdeenshire since April last year and he had not returned to prison.
They were unable to give details on inmates who are originally from other parts of the country, who are taken back to their local establishments prior to release.
Now Mr Coull has received a reply from the SPS’s head office in Edinburgh.
The service said it would be too expensive, at around £600, to investigate his query.
It does reveal, however, that of the 300 inmates in Peterhead, 24 have previously served time at the jail.
Last night, Mr Coull said his appeal for information had come up against a “wall of secrecy”.
He said he would be making a formal complaint to information commissioner Kevin Dunion.
“I find it very strange that after two years of asking questions to all the right people, we’re no further forward,” said Mr Coull.
“With each question, I'm getting little pieces of information, but there’s still not enough to give me the full picture.”
It is known that nearly 800 sex crimes have been investigated by police in Aberdeenshire over the last three years, with almost 40% of them unsolved.