By Catriona Stewart
Evening Times
May 8, 2009
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2506955.0.church_left_stunned_as_elder_guilty_of_child_porn.php
A GLASGOW church congregation was shocked today after finding out one of their elders had been unmasked as a paedophile.
Neil Campbell, 46, of Jordanhill Parish Church, was one of eight paedophiles found guilty of a catalogue of child pornography and abuse charges, including the sexual assault of a three-month-old child.
Minister Colin Renwick said: "The church is shocked and saddened."
One church member, who asked not to be named, said: "If someone had said Neil was gay it would have been no surprise, but to believe he is a paedophile is a horrifying stretch of the imagination.
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| Jordanhill church parishioners were shocked to learn that one of their elders, Neil Campbell, below, was a paedophile |
"He was a big, cuddly bear of a man and appeared to be completely harmless."
The police officer who led the inquiry, Detective Superintendent Allan Jones, said: "All led classic double lives. Some of them were respected members of their professions and communities."
Two of the men - sex offender Neil Strachan, 41, and gay rights campaigner James Rennie, 38 - were convicted of sex attacks on children.
Strachan and Rennie were also found guilty of conspiring to abuse youngsters, as were three other members of the gang.
All eight accused in the 10-week trial at the High Court in Edinburgh were convicted of a series of child porn offences.
Nearly 125,000 indecent images were seized during Operation Algebra, which uncovered the group that is believed to be Scotland's biggest paedophile network.
John Milligan, 40, a civil servant, of Wanlock Street, Govan; Ross Webber, 27, of North Berwick; and Craig Boath, 24, from Dundee, were all found guilty of conspiring to participate in the sexual abuse of children, along with Strachan and Rennie, both from Edinburgh.
Those five, as well as Campbell, of Glendaruel Avenue, Bearsden, near Glasgow; John Murphy, 44, of Westmoreland Street, Govanhill; and Colin Slaven, 23, from Edinburgh, were also convicted of a catalogue of child porn offences.
Campbell, who managed a cake company, had been leading a classic double life.
A trusted member of the community, he and wife Helen were at the heart of Jordanhill Church. Campbell was part of the handbell-ringing club, was in the choir and helped in the Sunday School.
He also cared for youngsters at the Jordanhill Out of School club.
But behind his respectable veneer, Campbell cheated on his wife with a string of gay lovers and viewed disturbing videos and pictures of children.
He also invited civil servant John Milligan to his home so they could share child pornography.
Campbell first contacted ringleader Neil Strachan through an internet chatroom and shared his fantasies of abusing young children.
But the e-mails to Strachan were his undoing because e-mail records led police straight to Campbell.
In 1995, Murphy, then assistant principal drama teacher at Claremont High School, East Kilbride, was convicted of engaging in an indecent act in Glasgow city centre with two other men.
He was sacked and struck off by the General Teaching Council for Scotland. However, the conviction was overturned a few months later by three appeal judges in the Court of Session, Edinburgh.
Murphy then returned to teaching at Coatbridge College, and is understood to have taught special needs children at an Ayrshire school.
He tried a brief career as a nightclub DJ before taking a job as receptionist at a gay sauna.
The convictions come after Operation Algebra, one of the most complex investigations yet carried out by Lothian and Borders Police.
The worldwide inquiry uncovered what is thought to be Scotland's largest paedophile ring.
Officers recovered thousands of CDs and DVDs, hundreds of computers and thousands of harrowing images of abuse against children.
Operation Algebra was set up by the force in 2007 after indecent images were found on computer equipment used by Strachan during his work for a paint firm.
During the trial, the jury had to look at many disturbing images.
They were also told about the content of a succession of graphic online chatroom discussions about underage sex and child abuse.
The trial was told each indecent image in a catalogue of thousands was a record of sexual assault on a real child.
Prosecutor Dorothy Bain told the jury words such as "pornography" and "indecent" masked the "awful truth" contained in the charges against the men.
Detective Superintendent Allan Jones, the senior investigating officer, said that as a result of the inquiry, information on around 70 other people was sent to police forces throughout the UK, with more than 35 people arrested or subject to enforcement action.
Two investigations are continuing in Scotland.
Mr Jones added: "As the investigation unfolded it revealed a web of people who had a common interest in child sexual abuse.
"They made initial contact via the internet and used it to share vile imagery and discuss the abuse of children."
Apart from Strachan - a registered sex offender since the 1990s over other child abuse offences - none of the accused was known to the police.
Mr Jones said the force had support from agencies throughout the UK and abroad, including the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the FBI and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
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