Sandy Ross, a 32-year-old high-risk registered sex offender, has been returned to prison after breaching his stringent court order by engaging in prohibited online contact with women and committing an assault on a teenager. The case, heard at Peterhead Sheriff Court, highlights Ross's repeated disregard for the conditions imposed to protect the public following his prior convictions for sexual offences.
Ross was released from a previous sentence on 17 May 2024, after serving time for possession of a bladed weapon and assault with a weapon, convicted on 5 October 2023. Just one day later, on 18 May 2024, police conducted an unannounced home visit in the Macduff area where he was residing. Officers discovered contact details for multiple women on his mobile phone. Despite Ross claiming these were for 'friends and ex-partners', investigations revealed otherwise. Fiscal depute Brian Young detailed in court that one woman had no prior knowledge of Ross or his registered sex offender status and had been added to a private Facebook Messenger group chat set up by him, along with other unidentified females. A second woman confirmed she did not know Ross but had spoken with him via the group chat.
Ross's court order explicitly prohibits him from speaking to women on the internet or electronically without notifying police. He admitted at an earlier hearing to adding the two women to the Facebook group chats to communicate with them, breaching this condition within days of his release.
Compounding these violations, on 16 June 2024, Ross targeted a 17-year-old girl with whom he had been in a brief nine-day relationship. After their split and being denied entry to her flat, he appeared at her door brandishing a metal pipe, causing her fear and alarm. The teenager called the police as Ross began banging on the door. During his arrest, Ross claimed he was merely identifying himself as a traveller and threatening to involve others to remove boys from her flat, insisting the item was an 'aluminium pole from a Hoover' and not an offensive weapon. He also denied striking the door with it.
The court reviewed Ross's extensive criminal history, including multiple breaches of sex offender orders, stalking, and domestic assaults. Defence solicitor Andrew Ormiston noted that Ross is classified as a high-risk offender and had spent about 11 months on remand. He argued that Ross was not taking his prescribed medication at the time and was self-medicating, suggesting community supervision and a potential address in Peterhead upon release might benefit all parties. However, Sheriff Ian Wallace rejected this, stating he was 'satisfied only a custodial sentence would be appropriate' given Ross's record, the nature of the offences, and the social work report.
Sentence was imposed last Friday, with Ross receiving 12 months' custody, adjusted for time on remand, and activation of an unexpired portion of his previous term, resulting in an effective 200 days behind bars. Ross had previously served time at HMP Perth before moving to Macduff and is currently held at HMP Grampian.