A CONVICTED rapist who made contact from prison with 55 different women using a bogus Facebook account has been sent back to custody.

John McDougall, 31, was caught after inviting one of his "friends" on the social networking site to his flat while on parole from Noranside open prison in Angus.

The sheriff who jailed McDougall described the security lapse as "almost unbelievable", with condemnation also coming from Rape Crisis Scotland and Labour justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald, who claimed the safety of innocent people was being put at risk by prisoners accessing the internet.

McDougall, recently released from a 10-year sentence following the knifepoint rape of a 19-year-old woman in Irvine, was handed a 34-month sentence for breaching the terms of the sex offenders register.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard the rapist used a fake name on his Facebook page while still an inmate of the open prison, with a cartoon used for his profile picture instead of his own photo.

A woman who met McDougall, who now lives at his former flat in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, broke off contact with him after learning of his true identity.

He previously told the woman he could not upload his own picture and would text it to her instead.

Suzanne Fotheringham, prosecuting, said: "She met this man known as John Boyd at his home address.

"She was made aware by him that his real name was John McDougall. Letter and phone contact later ceased."

McDougall told police he wanted to use an alias so "his past may not be so easily looked at should a person access the internet".

Ms Fotheringham added: "There were 57 friends linked to this profile, 55 of whom were female."

McDougall admitted creating and operating the account, accessing it while in prison and contacting the Facebook friends from prison.

He admitted breaching sex offenders register guidelines last October and November by failing to notify police within three days of changing his name.

Sheriff Alistair Watson said: "There's a wider issue that concerns me greatly here and I would be failing in my public duty if I did not highlight it.

"Prisoners serving sentences for serious offences, including rape as in this case, can obtain internet access and – almost unbelievably – set up a profile on social networking sites and use them as they choose."

"It is the easiest thing for public institutions to block such access."

A prison service source said McDougall would not have accessed the site from a prison computer, given that inmates are not allowed to use terminals with internet access.

Eileen Maitland, of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: "It beggars belief that a convicted sex offender – in the context of a prisoner serving a sentence for a brutal rape – can have the liberty to contact any women at all via Facebook or any other means, let alone 55.

"It is important that sentences reflect the seriousness of the crimes, and there are few crimes more serious and devastating in their impact than rape.

"The prison service must at the very least carry out the justice system's duty and moral obligation to survivors by ensuring that perpetrators are properly monitored while in custody."

Mr McDonald said the situation was "a real concern". He added: "Clearly for those prisoners who are unreconstructed, they can continue to pose a threat to innocent people.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: "Where allegations of illegal accessing of mobile phones comes to our attention we take appropriate action."

l Police are trying to trace a prisoner who failed to return from day release. Stuart Govan did not return to HMP Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee from temporary release to Perth last Wednesday.

The 24-year-old, who is originally from Falkirk, was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Falkirk Sheriff Court on February 10 last year after he was convicted of assault.