By Craig McDonald
SERIAL child sex beast James Ferguson, described as “the worst of the worst”, is making a bid for freedom after 38 years behind bars.
The twisted paedophile wants out of the State Hospital at Carstairs, where he has been locked up since 1969.
But yesterday a source at the hospital warned that he should never be let out.
The source said: “He is the worst of the worst . It is absolutely unbelievable he is being considered for any kind of move.
“He is the type who presents a more or less certain chance of re- offending.
“The correct environment for him is – and always will be – Carstairs, with its maximum security conditions.”
Ferguson is going to a mental health review tribunal nextmonth to apply for a move to a less secure unit – the first step towards freedom.
The former binman, dubbed “The Monster” when he was caught, admitted nine horrific attacks on young girls during a two-year reign of terror in Glasgow in the 1960s.
Detectives suspected him of many more and investigated 19 attacks in all.
Ferguson, now 61, was sent to Carstairs without limit of time after being shopped by his wife.
Barbara, then 25, saw him grab one of his victims.
But she said she did not realise what she had witnessed until she discovered he had been molesting an 11-year-old girl after their marriage broke down.
In five of the attacks, he mutilated his victims’ genitals with aknife.
The attacks on girls, aged two to 11, led to the Garnet hill, Townhead and Woodside areas being labelled the Square Mile of Terror.
After his arrest, his wife told how she and Ferguson met a little girl in Derby Street, near Kelvingrove Park.
She said: “Jim said he knew her and would take her home as her close was very dark. He took the girl by the hand and disappeared into the tenement.
“Suddenly there was a scream and I ran through the close – and there was Jim, the sleeve of his jacket torn and hanging off. There was no sign of the girl.
“He said not to worry because the girl was home in the top flat.
“Then he grabbed me, battered my head against the wall and said if I told anyone I would be found lying in my own blood.”
Barbara later found out the reason she hadn’t seen the girl was because Ferguson had thrown her into a basement.
Her marriage with the beast broke up and he moved from their home in Blackhill to lodgings in Royston.
Barbara said: “But he came back to see me regularly – at least I thought it was to see me.I found out he was tampering with an 11- year-old girl in the area.
“I remembered the Derby Street incident and phoned the police.”
Detectives had launched a manhunt in October 1967 after a savage assault near Glasgow’s St George’s Cross area.
A squad of 100 detectives worked day and night on the case. Members of the public joined the hunt for the maniac and even hardened criminals offered to help police.
But attack followed attack until Barbara called police two years later.
Police were sure they had their man because of a dimple on Ferguson’s chin – adetail they had kept to themselves.
It was revealed Ferguson, who was born in Lenzie, near Glasgow, and brought up in the city’s Bridgeton area, loved to dress as a woman with clothing taken from his wife.
He would walk Glasgow’s toughest districts dressed in high heels, tights and a mini-skirt and also had a fascination with white coats.
He worked as a dustman, learning about Glasgow’s labyrinths of tenement closes and lanes in the process. And he finished work in the early afternoon, allowing him to carry out his twisted crimes in daylight.
Among the charges he admitted was dragging a six-year-old girl into a back court at Barrington Drive, Kelvinbridge, raping her and seriously injuring her with a knife.
He also admitted raping and knifing another six-year-old and lewd and libidinous practices towards a five-year-old and 11-year-old.
Experts recommended Ferguson never be released and he is now thought to be Scotland’s longest-serving prisoner or secure hospital inmate.
At his trial, Dr John Rosie, of Dykebar Hospital, Paisley, said: “Ferguson has a character disorder that is of dangerous, violent and criminal propensities. He requires treatment of special security.”
Ferguson also admitted in letters to his wife that he didn’t know what he was doing and was unable to stop.
Judge Lord Grant sent him to Carstairs without limit of time. But last year, laws introduced to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights gave Carstairs patients the chance to challenge their security status and captivity.
The Mental Health Act gave patients the right to appeal to a tribunal against their detention. Those who succeed are moved to less-secure hospitals.
It is then only “a matter of time” before their release into the community.
Ferguson’s hearing will be held at Carstairs on May 22.
In February, the Scottish Tories said it was “utterly unacceptable” to shift mentally unstable criminals closer to the community and questioned the legality of such moves.
It was revealed 15 out of 32 appeals by patients to the Mental Health Tribunal had been successful. Seven involved patients in the highest risk category.
Asource said yesterday: “Sometimes the powers-that-be need reminding of why people are in places like Carstairs. The new rules might be fine for people at the lower end of the scale.
“But the clear feeling is the worst offenders must remain detained under the most secure conditions – that means Carstairs.
“Ferguson’s record speaks for itself. He terrorised a city and the crimes he committed are almost beyond belief.
“He was detained without limit of time by a judge in possession of all the facts and that was the correct sentence.”
Last month, the Record told how two of Scotland’s worst knife fiends are also taking their first steps towards freedom following the changes in the law.
Gregor McGurk and Owen Bonner have been deemed fit for a move out of Carstairs.
They were due to be housed in a less-secure clinic next to a primary school.
A spokeswoman for Carstairs said she was unable to comment on individual cases.
‘Ferguson terrorised a city and the crimes he committed are almost beyond belief’
(c) 2007 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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