A NOTORIOUS paedophile given hostel trips away from prison is back behind bars after a Scottish Sun on Sunday investigation.
James Rennie, 54, had his latest week-long jaunt to Edinburgh cut short just a day after we quizzed jail chiefs about him and beast pal Neil Strachan, 57, enjoying overlapping capital visits.
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Two notorious paedos James Rennie and his beast pal Neil Strachan had overlapping Edinburgh visitsCredit: PA:Press Association
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Neil Strachan was pictured at the Crane Hostel in the capitalCredit: Michael Schofield, News Group Newspapers Ltd
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The depraved pair were part of Scotland’s biggest paedo ring
The trips are part of a move towards releasing the duo — who led Scotland’s biggest paedophile ring — back into the community.
Scottish Tory community safety spokeswoman Sharon Dowey said: “It should not have taken this newspaper to force the home leave of this dangerous offender to be cut short.
“The prison service must guarantee this pair are kept away from each other to stop them putting public safety at risk.”
We watched as Rennie, who sexually assaulted a three-month-old baby, and Strachan, who tried to rape a boy of 18 months, were briefly inside Crane Hostel in New Town at the same time.
The pair, both from Edinburgh, were caged in 2009 after being caught along with six other sickos in a ring involving 125,000 indecent images and videos of children.
Rennie, ex-chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, also conspired to get access to kids in order to abuse them.
Both he and Strachan enjoy a relaxed environment at Castle Huntly open prison, near Dundee.
A source said: “Rennie got taken back to Castle Huntly on Friday, so never got his home leave.”
The Scottish Prison Service said: “We don’t comment on individuals.”
We previously told how the ringleaders of a huge paedophile network had been wandering the streets and staying in the same digs.
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Sources also say the paedophile partnership freely fraternise at low security Castle Huntly nick, near Dundee.
One said: “It’s disgusting. There are loads of them in Castle Huntly and they all go about with each other growing their network.
“They are even locked up in the same hall in the prison, so when the doors are closed at 7.30pm at night they sit in each others cells.”
The source added: “These two shouldn’t be allowed out for what they did, never mind for seven days at a time.”
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The sicko has had his hostel time cut short after the Scottish Sun on Sunday probeCredit: Andrew Barr