Victims of a Highland sex offender have hit out at the news he will be released in the summer – just nine months into his sentence.
Alan Nimmons was jailed for 18 months in October after being found guilty of two indecent assaults, one with a child under 16, and two counts of sexual assault.
He was the boss of the Railway Hotel in Tain when he targeted the four boys, plying them with alcohol and cigarettes, over a 10-year period.
Jailing the 39-year-old, Sheriff Sara Matheson described it as a “serious case of predatory sexual conduct”. She also put him on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
But now his victims have been notified he is due to be released on licence on July 10 – prompting fears he could return to the north.
‘We have gone through hell’
One mum, whose son was abused from when he was a young teen, said: “Last week we got a letter telling us that Nimmons would be out of jail in nine months, and due out in July 10.
“It was shocking. We have gone through hell. The abuse lasted much longer than the sentence, and that is not right. We can not imagine why someone who has preyed on young victims will be allowed out into the community.”
She said her son has struggled to get his life back on track and is worried of the impact Nimmons’ possible return to the north would have on him and others.
She added: “Nimmons still has family ties to Tain, so our question is ‘will he be allowed to return here?’. We have heard he has been offered work in the Highlands – and that just makes us feel sick.
“He has taken so much of our children’s lives, we do not want him to do it to anyone else.”
‘A knife in the back from the justice system’
Nimmons’, victims can not be named under Contempt of Court laws.
One of them however has spoken for the first time about his disappointment at the initial sentence – as well as his abuser’s imminent release.
Nimmons committed his offences between 2008 and 2018 – the same year he left his employment at the Railway Hotel.
Speaking out for the first time, the man said: “He has put me and other victims through years of abuse both mentally and physically.
“When we found out he only was given 18 months for sexual assault on more than one victim it was a punch in the gut, as it was, but now to be told he is only serving around the nine months mark is like a knife in the back from the justice system.”
Seething with pain about the way in which Nimmons abused him, he said: “He is sitting back having his cake and eating it. Meals cooked for him, TV, the gym you name it.
“On the other hand, I live with what he done to me daily. I have flashbacks, it affects my daily life.
“Now I’ve to wait for him to walk the streets again not knowing where he is or when I could come face to face with the monster who sexually assaulted me.
“He has no remorse to any of us lads whatsoever.”
‘The ifs and buts are endless’
A second victim called the sentence a “joke”.
He said: “He got 18 months, but serves nine, is that was what my 14 years of mental torture was worth to the courts?
“And then they wonder why no one trusts the system.”
The families have always believed there are other victims who have not come forward out of fear they would be stigmatised. They are not judging anyone for not coming forward – but have asked why anyone else would when the sentence was so short.
The victim continued: “How am I meant to put this behind me and move on when he will be out walking the streets in less than a year?
“It’s impossible to even comprehend the fear he still has over me, even though he’s inside, knowing he will be on the streets by the end of the year and then what?
“Back into mental torture not knowing if I turn a corner one day will I see him.
“The ifs and buts are endless and it’s a constant reminder of the shame and guilt he put me through.”
‘How is this justice?’
The mother of another victim, who is now raising her grandson on her son’s behalf as a result of the trauma he suffered, said: “It kills me to think Nimmons got such a short sentence and then he will be out to walk the streets. I was shocked to get the letter.”
She claimed many of his victims had turned to drugs to cope, or had since died.
She continued: “How can this be justice?”
“We trusted Nimmons and we drank with him in the pub, and he was doing this behind our back.
“This has affected us in ways that no one should be, I just don’t get how it can be fair?”
The Scottish Prison Service did not respond to a request for a comment.
