FAMILIES angry after believing that a convicted paedophile had been housed close to Woodmill High School have made a formal complaint to Fife Council.

Mums and grans marched to council offices in Abbeyview on Tuesday to protest.

Councillor Fay Sinclair told the Press that the individual had been removed from the Dunfermline area by Monday evening after a series of complaints from residents.

Patricia Hunter, of Allan Crescent, told the Press: “We now have a petition going and have made a formal complaint to the council for putting a convicted paedophile just minutes’ walk from Woodmill High.

“My 12-year-old daughter walks to and from the school four times a day.

“Different mums are now trying to find out what the procedure is and why we weren’t informed. We feel we’ve just been fobbed off.”

Locals demonstrated outside a home in Kincardine believing the same paedophile was living in their village last Thursday.

Protesters carried four large banners, including one which read: “Get this paedo out” and were met by police who dealt with the incident.

Ms Hunter added: “The local community wants answers.

“When they removed the individual from Kincardine I think they just put him in the first place they could find.”

Cllr Sinclair said: “Over the weekend, residents contacted myself about the situation and I got in touch with the housing services, but I was informed that the individual would be removed by Monday evening.

“I do not know how the community found out that this individual was there but I could see that a lot of photos of the person were shared all over social media.

“Paedophiles need to be housed somewhere but that needs to be done sensitively and I think in this instance it was right they were moved.”

Fife Council has a duty to accommodate offenders. This is done in line with national policy outlined in the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2005 and through a Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA).

The key agencies involved in MAPPA are Fife Council, Police Scotland, NHS Fife and the Scottish Prison Service.

All use the National Accommodation Strategy for Sex Offenders and through this process levels of risk are assessed, risk management strategies are put in place and ongoing monitoring is undertaken.