A crowd of 70 people had to be dispersed by police in Aviemore on Sunday night as they protested against the re-homing of a serial rapist in their neighbourhood.
The convicted rapist, was recently released from jail and quietly set up home in the Cairngorms tourist capital of Aviemore, about 45 minutes’ drive from Inverness.
But his neighbours’ curiosity was aroused after he was repeatedly dropped off at the home in Sluggan Drive in a marked prison service van.
On at least three occasions, the rapist was escorted by uniformed personnel to the address while on home leave preparing for his release.
After residents finally worked out his identity, about two months after he moved in, a crowd of around 70 people surrounded the property on Sunday night until police arrived and removed him.
Neighbour Sam Wilson, 27, said: “He was coming for home visits with G4S prior to moving in. I think it was about once a week over about a month.
“They were parking out the back about 100 yards away. It was like a minibus with blacked-out windows.
“It was about mid-day, a lot of people in the street saw him. He always had two officers with him.”
She added: “It really shocked me that they would think this would go unnoticed.
“I’m really shocked that they thought this was going to be accepted. I think they thought we were just going to roll over.
“It’s so close back to where he last struck. Why up here? It does scare us.”
One local, who did not wish to be named, was so worried that they went through his recycling bin and found a prescription with his name on it, which helped lead to his identification.
Mum-of-two Natacha Flamand, who lives on the same street, said: “Alarm bells started ringing at the fact that somebody had moved in next door who had been released from prison.”
She added: “We got together a silent demonstration outside his address to get him removed – and he was.
“Around 50 or 60 of us went there and he obviously called the police and they eventually came and called backup because there were so many of us.
“Our road was blocked with about five police cars. This all started at about 7pm on Sunday night and he was removed around midnight.
“He was removed for his own safety, not for ours. When he got in the back of the police van he was sat smirking.
“There was no chanting, no singing. They were waiting for the police to remove him.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We attended on Sunday night at around 7.30pm.
“There were around 70 people outside the address.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”