Locations
South Queensferry, Edinburgh, EH30
Description
A paedophile threatened to hide the ashes of his partner’s dead child when she left him after finding out he was a child sex offender.
Robert Knight made the despicable threat to dispose of the urn containing the remains of the child “in a bush” after the woman had packed her bags and fled the family home.
The victim moved away with her young son after 38-year-old Knight had been outed on social media as a pervert by a paedo hunter group in 2023.
Knight also sent the woman death threats, texted an image of him holding a handgun and threatened to pour petrol through the door of a relative.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the pervert bombarded the terrified victim with texts, emails and social media messages on Snapchat and WhatsApp in an attempt to speak to her.
The court was told Knight made 107 phone calls and sent 29 emails threatening her family members and demanding she give him money over a 48 hour period in August 2023.
Knight also sent letters, turned up at the woman’s new Edinburgh home and even left messages after hacking into her BBC iPlayer and Netflix accounts in a bid to contact her.
Prosecutor Eilidh Grant read out a prepared written narrative on Tuesday, July 3, stating Knight had made numerous threats to harm the woman and her family including the vile threat to hide the ashes of her dead child.
Ms Grant said: “On February 23, 2023, the accused sent text messages which read ‘Your family will pay. I (sic) make sure you have to move far away from your family for them causing this.
‘If you don’t call in five I gonna put [child’s name] in a bush hidden in case you called the police you won’t get him back. Hope your happy.’
“The reference to [the child] is a reference to [the woman’s] son who had passed away several years prior and who’s ashes she kept in her home with the accused.
“As a result of this comment she sought to end all contact with the accused. The following day she contacted police to report these various threats made by the accused.”
The court also heard Knight had deliberately driven his car at a male friend of the woman and knocked him over before shouting “I’ll come back and I’ll you” at the terrified victim.
Knight was arrested and appeared in court in September 2023 and after being released on bail he posted a picture of a black handgun to the family group chat before panicking and deleting the image.
The thug, from South Queensferry, then sent a picture of him holding the gun to a relative and stated he “had plans” for his ex-partner.
He added: “If I don’t get to see my son, then she won’t either. I’ll plead guilty, I’ve nothing to lose.”
Police were alerted to the threats and armed officers raided Knight’s home where they found “a black imitation handgun” during a search of the property on October 10, 2023.
Knight appeared from custody at the capital’s sheriff court for sentencing on Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to the offences.
Sheriff Fergus Thomson jailed Knight for a total of three years and seven months and issued him with a 10 year non-harassment order that bans him from any contact with the victim.
Knight was caught sending a series of disgusting sexual comments and images of his penis to who he believed was a 12-year-old girl in August last year.
He was in fact in contact with an adult decoy from a paedo hunter group and was jailed for 340 days and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely after pleading guilty in January this year.