Glasgow boy murdered by paedophile living nearby becomes focus of new Netflix show

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Police officers who investigated a notorious paedophile murder have called for the authorities to change the way sex offenders are housed.

It’s been more than 20 years since a report warned predators should not be housed in blocks of flats.

But then eight-year-old Mark Cummings was murdered in a Glasgow high-rise by beast Stuart Leggate in 2004. And only last year we told how Da Vinci Code Rapist Robert Greens was moved into an apartment above a young mother and her children.

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Now for the first time, police who probed Mark’s murder have spoken out to stop history repeating itself.

In a new Netflix documentary about the horrific killing, now-retired officers tell of their shock at how living among families in a high-rise made it so easy for registered sex offender (RSO) Leggate to target the youngster.

PC Gary Scott – the first officer on the scene when Mark went missing – said: “The authorities on this occasion got it wrong. Stuart Leggate should never have been in that flat. There should have been more checks done.

In 2001, the Cosgrove Report – following the murder of nine-year-old Scott Simpson in Aberdeen by paedophile Steven Leisk – warned that RSOs should not be housed in blocks of flats.

But only three years later, tragic Mark was lured to his death by Leggate, a serial predator with previous child sex convictions, who was a neighbour in a high-rise in Royston, Glasgow.

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He sexually assaulted and strangled the youngster in his flat before dumping his body down a rubbish chute.

The latest Netflix programme – When Missing Turns To Murder – has allowed police officers on the frontline during the case to speak out.

PC Scott said: “[Leggate] was on the sex offenders’ register so he had been involved in offences before with young children, and here he was in a community where there’s young children .

“There was a general disbelief that the crime had taken place. It was an appalling crime, a sickening crime. And then you obviously have the question, you know…a registered sex offender being in the local community.”

Detective Inspector David Swindle added: “Mark’s mum has been campaigning for years for change and so have other families and rightly so. It’s the voice of the victim that’s been killed.

“It’s their right to ask for change, political change, government change, government influencing processes.

“Because we should never forget what happened to Mark. We should never forget what Leggate did.”

The warning about not housing RSOs in high-rises has continued to be ignored even after Mark’s murder.

In 2012, a four-year-old boy was raped by George Cameron, an RSO living next door in flats in Toryglen, Glasgow.

And despite strict checks around where beasts can be housed supposedly coming into force in 2019, Greens was last years housed in an apartment above mum-of-two Daniella Quinn, in Danderhall, Midlothian.

He was nicknamed the Da Vinci Code Rapist after attacking a 19-year-old Dutch student visiting Rosslyn Chapel, which features in the famous thriller by Dan Brown.

Daniella’s flat was targeted by a mob throwing stones and eggs after they got wind of the predator moving in.

She was forced to write on her boarded-up window: “2 babies live here! Scared. Rapist is upstairs.”

Mark Cummings’ mum, campaigner Margaret-Ann, said: “Helping make this documentary about Mark was a tough experience for our family.

“But it was important to highlight, once again, the real cost to real people when officials and systems become complacent and lazy.

“We’re very grateful to those police officers for speaking out, but now we need politicians with the empathy to understand and make laws that designed to put families and communities first, not the rights of devious criminals.

“Dangerous sex offenders should never be secretly housed in places where children and women are then put at a greater risk they know nothing about.

“It’s ridiculous that even needs saying – but it needs repeating because this is still happening nearly 20 years after Mark was taken from us.”

Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “It is incredibly worrying that almost two decades on from Mark’s death the same questions still remain about where to house sex offenders.

“The SNP must examine the current guidelines and consider whether any changes are needed to keep people safe.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “With very few exceptions, RSOs are entitled to live in any property they own or are otherwise accommodated in by a local authority or other housing provider.

“Their addresses undergo stringent assessment to ensure every reasonable precaution has been taken to safeguard both the local community and the offender.”

The Scottish Government said the “prime consideration when assessing the suitability of accommodation for a sex offender is the safety of the community”.

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