Back in 2019, Samantha Smith, a female paedophile from Blantyre, was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing two small children, during which she exclaimed, ‘I’m not a beast.’
Samantha Smith, 30, consistently exploited a five-year-old boy and a three-year-old daughter.
The maltreatment persisted until the boy reached the age of eight and the girl five.
Samantha Smith, from Blantyre, Lanarkshire, faced trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court, where she refuted any misconduct occurring between November 2009 and June 2014.
A jury deliberated for one hour before convicting her of sexually abusing minors at a residence in East Kilbride.
Samantha Smith has been sentenced to three years of incarceration and is indefinitely registered as a sex offender.
As she was escorted away, Samantha Smith exclaimed, “Paedophiles should be hanged, not imprisoned; I am not a paedophile,” before addressing the victims’ relatives and declaring, “What goes around comes around.”
The alarm was initially raised in 2012 when the youngster disclosed that Samantha Smith had sexually handled her and had also abused her with a book and a candy wrapper.
A police inquiry commenced; however, it was determined that there was inadequate evidence to proceed with a prosecution.
In 2017, the youngster, who has autism, disclosed that Samantha Smith had victimised him.
Subsequently, he absconded from his residence following a police interrogation, initiating a search for a missing person.
The terrified youngster was later found cowering in a bush.
A 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Samantha Smith’s trial how the girl confided in her.
She said: “She was very quiet, in fact, both of the children were quiet and seemed withdrawn, which I thought was quite unusual.
“One night, she asked to speak to me and was quite nervous.
“She said she had a secret to tell me, and she told me Samantha Smith used to play with her flower.
“I was really upset, and we both started crying, and later she told her dad about what had happened, and he got quite angry and upset about it.”
She also told how the boy told her he was a victim of abuse.
She said, “He told me in 2017, and again, he was really quiet and withdrawn. “He told me what had happened earlier had also been happening to him.
“He ran away after telling us about what had happened, and the police got involved then.”
Samantha Smith’s defence advocate, Kelly Duling, told the court Smith had been forced to leave her home after being confronted by ‘paedophile hunters’.
She said: “These offences occurred nearly a decade ago, and there have been no complaints of any further offending since then.
“There is no indication that she is a danger to members of the public. [except for vulnerable children]
“She has been confronted by paedophile hunter groups and she and her mother have had to relocate to a safe location as a result.”
Sentencing Samantha Smith, Sheriff Douglas Brown told her: “The offences of which you were convicted were plainly very serious.
“Given the nature of the activities described by witnesses and the young age of the children involved, the only appropriate sentence is that of imprisonment.”
We previously told you how Samantha Smith had been forced from her home town of Blantyre after a crowd of 40 locals protested outside her house.
The convicted paedo, Samantha Smith, had previously pleaded her innocence, telling defence advocate Kelly Duling: “I have not done anything wrong.
“The first I heard about this was when the police came to the house.”
She is out in your community, so watch out.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report to Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.