Between 1 February 2002 and 12 January 2003, Neil Duncan Robertson groomed and sexually abused an eight-year-old girl, referred to as BL (born 1 July 1994), exploiting his fabricated persona to infiltrate her family. Robertson initiated contact via an internet support group for families dealing with Asperger's syndrome and ADHD, falsely claiming to be a Ryanair pilot suffering from Asperger's and qualified as a psychologist. He built trust with BL's vulnerable mother, who was navigating her son's diagnosis, leading to frequent communication, visits to the family home in Rosyth, and an eventual sexual affair. Robertson resided with the family for weeks, sharing a bedroom with BL, and manipulated situations to be alone with her, including babysitting on 13 and 24 December 2002 and a week-long stay in Troon over Christmas 2002.
The abuse, detailed in charge 1, encompassed multiple acts of lewd, indecent, and libidinous behaviour: supplying BL with alcohol (including a full bottle of Bacardi Breezer on New Year's 2003, leaving her dizzy); handling her private parts; taking photographs of them; compelling her to take his private member in her mouth, lick and suck it; rubbing his private member against hers and simulating sexual intercourse; inducing her to dance naked before a webcam and licking her private parts on camera; displaying indecent images of children to her on his computer; applying lubricant to her private parts; attempting to insert and placing a vibrator against them; and compelling her to masturbate him to ejaculation. These incidents occurred at addresses in Rosyth and Troon, escalating from touching in April 2002 to more invasive acts by late 2002. BL disclosed the abuse to her assistant head teacher on 7 January 2003, leading to police involvement on 10 January.
On 23 January 2003, police searched Robertson's Troon home under warrant, recovering a laptop running a file-deletion programme ('Win Wash'), a webcam, digital camera, floppy discs, a vibrator, lubricant, and children's panel forms. Forensic examination revealed an indecent photo of BL with a vibrator (charge 3, dated 27 December 2002, contrary to section 52(1)(a) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982); 55 cached images of young children in nappies; membership in the paedophilic 'Butterfly Kisses' chat site; 223 recovered images of children in nappies; and from a zip disc, 347 deleted paedophile images plus a file with 878 images and 45 movies (charge 4, possession contrary to section 52A). Robertson initially denied knowledge but provided a voluntary statement admitting guilt to spare BL trial trauma, claiming she initiated contact (which he knew was wrong and illegal), recognising his 'serious problem' and requesting therapy.
Robertson's prior convictions included multiple English offences (1984-1990) for deception, forgery, and counterfeiting, plus a 1991 Birmingham Crown Court conviction for child abduction under the Child Abduction Act 1984 (12 months' imprisonment). He admitted a 1995 charge for possessing child pornography (dropped, no treatment pursued) and a 20-year sexual interest in pre-pubescent girls, possibly stemming from his own abuse. A social enquiry report highlighted his grooming, manipulation, lack of victim empathy, and unfulfilled prior treatment attempts. Risk assessments by the Ayrshire Change Project (Risk Matrix 2000) and consultant psychologist Gary McPherson (SVR-20) both rated him high risk for sexual recidivism towards young females, citing longstanding deviation, escalation, lack of insight, and poor prognosis for change.
On 19 June 2003, at Glasgow High Court, Robertson pleaded guilty to amended charges and was sentenced by the judge to a discretionary life imprisonment on the principal charge (with six years minimum custody before parole under section 2(2) of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993), plus concurrent 15 months for other charges, deeming it necessary for public protection given the high recidivism risk. He appealed, arguing for an extended sentence citing early plea, no prior analogous convictions, and potential risk reduction via supervision, referencing Kelly v HM Advocate (2001 JC 12) and Crossley v HM Advocate (2003, unreported).
The appeal, heard on 30 January 2004 before Lord Justice-General Cullen, Lord Hamilton, and Lady Cosgrove, was refused on 17 February 2004 (2004 J.C. 155). Lady Cosgrove's opinion emphasised public protection duties, assessing risk at sentencing amid treatment uncertainties. Unlike Kelly, where an extended sentence sufficed, Robertson's deceptions, nomadic history, internet abuse, and entrenched paedophilia rendered finite supervision inadequate: 'The public interest requires that this offender be detained in custody until those responsible for his release are satisfied that he can safely be returned to the community.' Lifetime licence conditions post-release were mandated, with recall possible indefinitely (referencing McGowaney v HM Advocate 2002 SCCR 762 for similar high-risk cases).