A killer on home release left Linda McDonald for dead – now she says the parole system must change.
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Linda McDonald will never forget what went through her mind as she lay stunned and bleeding from Robbie McIntosh’s vicious attack.
She thought to herself: “Linda, this is the day you die and this is the way you die.”
Linda was battered with a dumb-bell by the convicted murderer, who was on home leave from prison.
At the time of the attack, five years ago this weekend, he was serving life for stabbing another woman to death in Dundee when he was just 15 years old.
Linda says her anger is directed not at her attacker but at the checks she believes failed to keep her safe from him.
McIntosh, now 36, was sentenced to a minimum of five years for the attack but he was also given an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) which means he may never be released from prison.
However, on Monday, he will face an automatic parole hearing.
Linda, who is now 57, was targeted by McIntosh as she walked her dog in woods near her home in Dundee.
“As I turned around, he was running right towards me, but I never had a chance to do anything but to put my hand up,” she says.
“I knew as soon as he hit me it was serious because the smell of the blood, it’s like pennies and warm. I was just stunned.”
At the time of the attack in August 2017, McIntosh was serving a life sentence for murdering Anne Nicoll on Dundee Law 16 years earlier.
He was being considered for parole and had been allowed home leave in preparation.
A court would later hear that throughout the brutal attack in Templeton Woods, McIntosh “remained impervious” to Linda’s pleas for mercy.
She says: “I just started screaming ‘help’ as loud as I could. When he hit me the second time, I just knew I blacked out.”
McIntosh only stopped bludgeoning Linda when two passers-by came to her aid.
She says: “I forgive him, I don’t even feel angry at him. I know some of my family and friends feel different.
“I feel angry at the systems that fail to keep the public safe.”
She says the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has reneged on promises made on three occasions to let her see a report on her attack.
Linda says the eventual reason for this was data protection concerns.
She says: “What’s the point of having this Freedom of Information Act if you can’t even get information on yourself about such a horrific thing happening to me?
“Part of me getting better and surviving this, mentally, emotionally, in every way, is having the information.
“If you’re denied information then obviously you’re going to be suspicious they’re hiding something.”
Linda is currently campaigning for more stringent checks on violent offenders before they are considered for release.
She needs 10,000 signatures to take her petition for change to the Scottish Parliament.
Linda says: “If you’re really wanting Scotland safe and you’re wanting your policies and your systems to work, listen to the people who’ve survived when they don’t work.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “As we have previously made clear, we are profoundly sorry for what happened to Mrs McDonald.
“We are fully aware of the life-changing consequences, for her and her family, as a result of this dreadful act.
“We have engaged with Mrs McDonald and will continue to do so.”