Baby's abusers are jailed for life

Two men behind Scotland's largest paedophile ring were jailed for life yesterday for creating a catalogue of child pornography and abusing children, including a three-month-old baby.

Neil Strachan, a convicted sex offender who is HIV-positive, was told he would spend a minimum of 16 years behind bars. His accomplice James Rennie, once a respected youth worker, was jailed for at least 13 years at the High Court in Edinburgh. Strachan, 41, was found guilty earlier this year of attempting to rape an 18-month-old boy and sexually assaulting a boy of six.

Rennie, 38, the former boss of LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation dedicated to helping young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, was convicted of molesting a young boy over more than four years, beginning when the child was three months old.

The pair, both of Edinburgh, were convicted alongside six other men who have already been sentenced. They were further found guilty of conspiring to abuse children, as were three other members of the network, after a 10-week trial. Referring to Strachan's abuse of the 18-month-old boy, which was captured in a picture known as the "Hogmanay image", Judge Lord Bannatyne said: "What is shown in that photograph is utterly appalling and would shock to the core any right-minded person."