A FATAL Accident Inquiry is to take place for a convicted child molester who was jailed for life in 2003 for a catalogue of sexual abuse of young girls over a 26-year period.

Alexander Salmond, an inmate at HMP Glenochil near Alloa, died on October 26, 2022 at the age of 59 after a gradual deterioration in his health.

He had been jailed for life in June 2003 at the High Court in Edinburgh which heard that he first began preying on children when he was just 13 and even raped an 11-year-old girl on Christmas Day when he was in his 30s.

The sexual predator carried out offences against under-age girls in High Valleyfield and Rosyth as well as Bo'ness and Bannockburn.

Salmond's campaign of abuse of children began in 1976 when, as a teenager, he targeted a six-year-old girl whom he exposed himself to and committed sex acts with.

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But Salmond, formerly of Fairykirk Road, Rosyth, went on to abuse children as young as three.

Six of Salmond's victims gave evidence against him over four days, before he pled guilty during a trial to a catalogue of abuse that included rape, indecent assault and indecency.

Judge Roderick Macdonald QC had told him that he was "a serious danger to young girls."

This week, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) lodged a First Notice to begin the court process for a Fatal Accident Inquiry into Salmond's death.

A Preliminary Hearing will be held on August 19 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court with a Fatal Accident Inquiry scheduled for September 19.

The purpose of a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) includes determining the cause of death; the circumstances in which the deaths occurred, and to establish what, if any, reasonable precautions could have been taken, and could be implemented in the future, to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.      

Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are inquisitorial in nature, and are used to establish facts rather than to apportion blame.      

Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on fatalities investigations for COPFS, said: “The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Alexander Salmond, occurred while in legal custody and as such a Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory.     

“The lodging of the First Notice enables FAI proceedings to commence under the direction of the Sheriff.”