KENNETH GIBSON FROM EDINBURGH SENT BACK TO JAIL AFTER STREET CHAT WITH EX-CONVICT
In a recent development in Edinburgh's ongoing efforts to monitor and control sex offenders, Kenneth Gibson, a 23-year-old man from the Scottish capital, was sentenced to two years in prison following an incident that occurred immediately after his release from custody.The incident involved Gibson engaging in a brief conversation with a former cellmate on the street, an act that directly contravened the strict conditions of his release.
Gibson had been released from prison only a few hours prior to this encounter.
The meeting took place in Greenside Place, Edinburgh, near the renowned Playhouse Theatre, where he was walking with two escorting officers from Sacro, a community safety organization dedicated to reducing reoffending.
During this walk, they encountered a man with whom Gibson exchanged words.
The details of this interaction became a matter of legal scrutiny, as conflicting accounts emerged about the nature of the conversation.
The court heard that there were differing versions of what transpired during this brief exchange.
The officers present did not hear the conversation, and Gibson's defense argued that the contact was initiated by the other man, who called his name and spoke to him first.
Gibson maintained that he did not give his address nor instruct the man to use a false name, asserting that it was a chance encounter rather than a deliberate breach of the court order.
Nonetheless, the court emphasized that even engaging in such a conversation constituted a violation of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) that had been imposed on him.
Gibson's history is marked by a serious and violent crime committed when he was just 17 years old.
In 2005, he was sentenced to an eight-year detention order, with an additional eight years of supervision, after attacking a 14-year-old boy in Leith.
The judge described the assault as a
