Murderer who tried to kill woman when on leave from prison up for parole

A man who battered a woman with a dumbbell while he was on home leave from prison where he was serving a sentence for murder is up for parole.

Robbie McIntosh assaulted Linda McDonald while she was walking her dog in Dundee’s Templeton Wood in August 2017.

McIntosh was on a week of leave from Castle Huntly open prison while serving a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years after stabbing another dogwalker, Anne Nicoll, to death in 2001.

He was sentenced to a minimum of five years for the attack on Ms McDonald and given an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) – meaning he will be monitored by the authorities for the rest of his life.

On Friday, he is expected to appear before the Parole Board for Scotland to determine whether he is no longer a risk to the public.

In 2022, Ms McDonald received a letter informing her McIntosh was eligible for parole – and asked for her statement on why he should not be released from prison.

The 57-year-old wrote to the Parole Board to express her “shock and disbelief” at the prospect of his release.

She told STV News the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had “failed” her by allowing a “dangerous murderer to roam around the woods” and accused the authorities turning a blind eye to “obvious red flags” surrounding McIntosh’s initial leave.

Ms McDonald said she “doesn’t even feel angry” towards her attacker but has been calling for more stringent checks to be put in place for violent offenders before they are considered for release as part of her Justice 4 Linda campaign.

When McIntosh was 15 years old, he stabbed Anne Nicoll 29 times and repeatedly stamped on her face. He was found guilty of murder and jailed.

His first period of temporary release was approved by Scottish ministers in 2015, before he was transferred to the open estate at Castle Huntly in 2016 and completed a number of short periods of home leave – including to his mother’s house.

A year later, he was allowed to return home again, but this time, he cornered Ms McDonald in the woods and repeatedly bludgeoned her with a dumbbell. His attack was only stopped when two other dog walkers overheard her screams.

As Ms McDonald lay in hospital receiving treatment for a catalogue of injuries including two separate skull fractures, officers searching McIntosh’s cell uncovered several crime novels – including one in which the plot surrounded a man who attacked women in heavily wooded areas.

“All the red flags were there,” Ms McDonald previously told STV News.

“He was reading material from prison library of murder in the woods. He was always planning to go and murder, but nobody was paying attention to him, which is shocking.

“He was out until midnight the night before he attacked me. But Police Scotland didn’t know he was on home leave. How did they know to go and give him spot checks?

“So my worry is how many more are slipping through the net? How many more red flags are not being actioned? It’s really frightening.”