At one stage, the judge, Lord Bannatyne, suddenly adjourned the hearing without explanation after hearing about the rape of a four-year-old girl. But in private, said Dorothy Bain QC, prosecuting, he had been 'polluted by deviant compulsion'.ĭuring one of the most harrowing trials of its kind, the images were so graphic that the court had to be cleared of the public and media during the 10-week hearing. Rennie, a former secondary school teacher since sacked from the helpline, had championed the rights of young gay people. The child's parents were so comfortable with Rennie that he was allowed to bathe, change and dress the boy, whom he went on to abuse repeatedly for four years, allowing another ring-leader, Neil Strachan, to participate.Īn engineer with previous convictions for child sex offences, Strachan, 41, had photographed himself trying to abuse an 18-month-old boy he was babysitting for friends on New Year's Eve in 2005. One, James Rennie, 38, then the chief executive of the gay and lesbian helpline LBGT Youth Scotland, had been babysitting the son of close friends, called Child F during the trial, since the child was three months old.