SCOTLAND: MARC SHERLAND, CONVICTED OFFENDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BURNS FEDERATION, ACCESSED CHILDREN DESPITE PAST SEX OFFENCES
A man convicted of paedophilia successfully changed his identity and lied his way into becoming President of the World Burns Federation, granting him direct access to school children.Known as Marc Sherland, he organized children’s poetry competitions and claimed he was safe to work with vulnerable children.
However, the man behind this facade was in fact Douglas Stuart Hammond, a disgraced community worker who had sexually assaulted two boys after luring hundreds of children to his home.
Hammond had managed to evade detection for several years by legally changing his name, until authorities uncovered his true identity, forcing him to resign from his position.
There are now calls for an urgent investigation into how Sherland, who was convicted in 1991 and not listed on the sex offenders register, went unnoticed for so long.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay MSP emphasized the concern: “This chilling case will be of concern to every parent in Scotland.
Only an investigation can establish the exact circumstances of this deeply concerning case.
While this individual was free to change his name, his past crimes should still have shown up in background checks working with children.
If checks were done, did they reveal his offending history?
If they did not, was that because of his name change?
Sex offenders should not be able to hide their identities by changing their names, and I would again urge SNP ministers to reconsider their opposition to closing this dangerous loophole.” Scottish Labour’s Justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill added: “Concerns will be rightly raised over this situation.
Action needs to be taken to close the loophole of offenders who committed their crimes before the register was created going undetected.” Hammond was convicted of indecent assault against two boys aged eight and 10, during his time as an educational community worker at Strathclyde Regional Council.
He assaulted the children during so-called “dummy fighting” at his home, claiming the games helped the boys break down emotional barriers, according to court reports at the time.
The Paisley Sheriff Court trial revealed that as many as 200 children had visited Hammond's home; during questioning, the convicted man, aged 35 at the time, stated: “I took the boys to my flat to talk about their personal and family problems.
These were boys with serious social behavioural problems.” One child needed to punch him to make him stop the abuse, while another confided in his grandmother about what was happening.
Since his conviction, Hammond changed his name to Marc Sherland and became involved in Burns clubs and literary groups across Scotland.
An author profile on the Scottish Book Trust website claimed he could work with adults and vulnerable individuals, including those in care, prisoners, and young offenders—despite his past abuse.
In 2020, Sherland became President of the World Burns Federation.
He also held positions as president of the Lanarkshire Association of Burns Clubs, Glasgow Haggis Club, and was a Vice President of the Glasgow and District Burns Association, among others.
Through these roles, he engaged with children by presenting awards and judging competitions, with images of his attendance at a Glasgow primary school shared on social media.
He mingled with senior local government officials and attended lavish banquets at Glasgow City Chambers.
In 2017, the convicted individual began organizing the Aye Can poetry summer school for 11- to 16-year-olds at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow.
However, in December, he was confronted by another member, leading to his immediate resignation from all clubs.
His author profile on Scottish Book Trust was subsequently removed.
A source from the club explained: “A conviction from over 30 years ago was brought to light, and the Bridgeton Burns Club President confronted him around Christmas time.
We conducted background checks which revealed a name change.
Upon inquiry, the president and another trustee met him to confront him about this and his convictions.
As far as I know, he admitted it, apologized, and resigned in writing.” The Sex Offenders’ Register, established in 1997, is not retroactive; thus, Sherland was never listed.
Any background checks using his new name would not have flagged his prior child abuse conviction, as there were no safeguards in place.
When the Sunday Mail confronted Sherland at his home in Erskine, he admitted he shouldn’t have been working with children but claimed he changed his name because he is an author.
Sherland stated: “I am a writer, and I changed my name because, as a writer, I realized my given name was fairly common.
Changing it to a less common name seemed like a good idea.
I’m suffering because of that now, but that’s why I did it.
It wasn’t because of my convictions.
I was registered with the Scottish Book Trust, but I’ve since removed myself to avoid bringing them into disrepute.” When asked if he acknowledged that working with children was a concern for parents and that he should not have been involved, he replied: “Yes, I think that’s probably true.
I thought that the distance in time and the change in my personality made it less of an issue.
On reflection, I believe that’s true.
I’ve never been in a one-to-one situation with a child, nor would I put myself in that position in a school.” Based in Kilmarnock, the World Burns Federation has over 250 affiliated Burns Clubs worldwide, extending as far as New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada, and the USA.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) clarified that the Aye Can event was commissioned by the Glasgow and District Burns Society and that Sherland did not teach children during the summer school.
She added: “The safety and well-being of young people at RCS has always been a primary priority, with stringent safeguarding policies in place.” Online adverts for the Aye Can event at RCS, posted by the Glasgow Burns and District Association in 2022 and 2023, listed Sherland as the contact.
However, RCS confirmed the event only occurred in 2017 and 2018.
A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman stated: “For safeguarding reasons, pupils are never left alone with visitors and remain supervised by staff at all times.
Visitors from partner organizations are invited to schools for learning purposes.
Pupil safety remains our priority.
We have no statutory obligation to request disclosure checks for all visitors.” The Scottish Government indicated that Disclosure Scotland is responsible for addressing the matter.
A spokesperson from Disclosure Scotland declined to comment on individual cases.
