Father of child killer urging bosses to keep him in prison

Leggate sexually assaulted and murdered eight-year-old Mark Cummings after abducting him from the block of flats where they lived and stuffing his body in a bin chute in Royston in 2004.

He received a minimum of 20 years after pleading guilty to the killing, but he becomes eligible for parole in June, the Daily Record reports.

Now the killer's dad says he plans to contact justice bosses to beg them to keep Leggate behind bars. 

He was Stuart Leggate Snr but has since taken on a new identity in a bid to distance himself from his 'ex-son'.

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He told the Daily Record: “I will object to him being given parole at any stage because in my opinion, he is still a danger to children.

“Mark Cummings would have been 28 years old this year but he never got a chance to see life. My ex-son should never be released.

“He was born in 1975 so he is almost 49 and has still a few years in front of him.”

Mark Cummings (Image: Archive image. Newsquest.)

Leggate was told by Judge Lord Dawson told the High Court in Glasgow that he was “highly dangerous” when he caged him in October 2004.

He had previously been in prison in the 1990s for assaulting boys aged three to 10.

However, the judge took into account the guilty plea leaving him eligible for parole in 2024. 

Leggate's father said: “I would hope he would serve much longer than 20 years."

While he has no contact with his son and has no idea what prison he is in, he knows that he was once caged alongside child killer Steven Leisk and triple-murderer Peter Tobin.

He believes they were all housed in Peterhead Jail before it closed.

He said: “He was with those other animals, that’s what my son is, an animal.”