ABERDEEN CHILD RAPIST RELEASED EARLY SPARKS OUTRAGE
The victim of a convicted child rapist, John Barbour, has issued a stark warning to mothers in Aberdeen as he has been released early from prison.Sarah Magee, who was raped ‘hundreds of times’ as a young child, was distressed to learn that Barbour, 54, was released on the morning of the article and has returned to Aberdeen where she lives.
Barbour, sentenced to four years after being convicted in 2018 of repeatedly raping Sarah starting when he was 19 and she was just four, has served only two-thirds of his sentence despite an appeal by the Crown for a longer term.
Magee expressed her fears and anger, stating: “I can’t believe that he has the right to come and settle back in to Aberdeen where I live.
He has already stolen my childhood and left me in bits my whole life, and now I have to look over my shoulder all the time in case I bump into him.” She further said, “That man has ruined my whole life.
I’m the one doing the life sentence.
His sentence was a joke.” Magee was raped hundreds of times during her childhood by Barbour, who lodged in her mother’s house, with the abuse nearly nightly from the night before she started school.
Despite his conviction for raping her and another child, he was sentenced to just four years, which Magee described as a lenient sentence and criticized the justice system for praising him.
She also revealed that her family was devastated by the actions of other abusers, including Steven Leisk, who murdered her brother Scott Simpson in 1997, and from whom Leisk is still serving a life sentence.
Magee lamented that Barbour, having escaped justice for many years, was already free after serving less time than many non-violent offenders.
She confronted the system’s failure in her words: “He didn’t admit his guilt, he didn’t show any remorse and I have to assume he continued to claim he was innocent after conviction because his family stood by him.” Magee passionately urged the community to recognize Barbour’s face and protect their children from him.
The article features images of Sarah Magee, her child, and Barbour himself, emphasizing the emotional and traumatic impact of the case.
