A fatal accident inquiry is to be held into the death of a sex predator.
Joseph Glass, 71, was found dead in his cell at HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire on 15 May 2021.
Glass was handed an eight-year prison sentence in 2018 for a spate of offences across the Wee County spanning back to 1998.
During a trial, the High Court in Edinburgh heard how he raped a woman while she slept and in separate assaults grabbed her by the throat and held a knife to her neck.
One girl was preyed on from the age of 11 and subjected to indecent assaults.
A second girl was targeted from the age of eight and was raped by Glass when she was 10 or 11.
Years later in her adult life, Glass punched her in the stomach while she was pregnant.
Glass had denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty of a string of offences – including two charges of rape, indecent assault, indecent conduct, assault, and uttering threats of violence.
Following his conviction, it emerged he had previously been jailed in 2012 for abusing two children between 1988 and 1990.
A Police Scotland detective branded Glass a “predator” when he was jailed for the second time for the offences committed between 1998 and 2007.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) explained the commencement of a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is mandatory as Glass was in legal custody and in the care of the state at the time of his death.
The FAI will determine the cause of death; the circumstances in which it occurred; and to establish what steps, if any, could have been taken 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.
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COPFS has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for the inquiry.
A preliminary hearing will take place at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on 24 April.
Preliminary hearings are used to identify those who are to take part in the inquiry; consider the scope of the inquiry; consider the information likely to be presented at the inquiry; and to make any other orders as the court considers proper.
Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on death investigations for COPFS, said: “The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Joseph Glass occurred whilst he was 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.”
