AS A SOCIETY, we have a natural instinct to protect children from danger. This comes in many forms. We may be more careful driving down a street, we create safe places for them to play and we make allowances for children we would not for adults as we allow them to grow and learn.

However, as a whole society, one of our key tools is the criminal justice system, where we recognise crimes against children as being particularly heinous. This system allows us to punish those who do harm and, for those worst offenders, that should mean a custodial sentence served in a prison.

You may have read recently of one particular offender from Prestonpans, John Boyd. This 53-year-old man recently pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and had his sentencing take place last week. What he did was disgusting, reprehensible and shameful. It sickened me to my stomach and his are the actions of what can be at best described as a dangerous and disgraceful individual.

Mr Boyd also had two previous convictions for similar offences and you may have read in this paper how he was ‘forced’ from his home following protests from angry locals. In no way do I condone vigilantism but I do understand the desire to keep children safe from people like him and you can further understand certain people’s anger following what happened in court on Friday.

At the sentencing of Mr Boyd last Friday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, the sheriff placed Mr Boyd on the sex offenders’ register for three years, which I believe is far too short a period, and then he decided to impose a non-custodial sentence. Not sending him to prison for a long time for this horrific crime sends out an awful message. Mr Boyd was handed a community payback order containing three years of supervision and was ordered to attend appointments with the specialist sex offender organisation CISSO.

I am certainly left wondering where is the punishment in that judgement, where is the justice? The sheriff made the decision on the basis of a social worker recommendation. Unless the social worker is Mother Teresa, I have serious questions as to how the judge could follow that recommendation.

It is decisions like these that lead to people protesting outside sex offenders’ homes because they no longer trust the criminal justice system to protect their children and families from these people. Our faith in the criminal justice system only works if we believe that justice is being served fairly and in this case, I think most people would agree it is not.

That is why I have decided to write to the Scottish Government’s Lord Advocate asking him to instruct the Crown Office to appeal the sentence given for being unduly lenient.