A THUG jailed for torturing and stealing from a social worker has boasted on social media about having a “wee cheeky day release” to visit his fiancee in their new home.
Garry Faulds is not even three years into a six year term for a sickening crime in which he a threatened a 53-year-old man with a blowtorch after taping him up.
Wearing a balaclava and boiler suit, he then repeatedly punched his terrified victim in the head and forced him to hand over money and bank details.
His fiancee Laura Colquhoun, who was also present, was given three years but is understood to have been released already and has already set up home for the couple in Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
Today (FRI) the Scottish Conservatives described the decision even to allow Faulds out on early home release as “galling”.
Prisoners are not allowed to use social media inside jail but Scottish Prison Service (SPS) rules allow them to post to Facebook and Twitter while on home release.
Faulds, who is claimed to have enjoyed his first home release in April this year, just two years into his sentence, took to Facebook on Thursday.
He bragged: “Wee cheeky day release to go home and help Laura Colquhoun get things sorted with our new flat.
“Buzzing to see my new home, definitely better than my current one!”
The 23-year-old has also changed his account’s introduction to: “I’m a reformed character…haha”.
He was tagged by a friend in March this year during another home visit – less than two years after being convicted.
His friend wrote: “F*** me, just bumped into Garry Faulds. Missed the wee c***, not long to he’s out for a beer.”
“He’s looking good, just on home leave, he’s out April. Let’s hope he stays out a trouble.”
His 19-year-old partner is believed to be working at a cafe in the couple’s hometown of Paisley, Renfrewshire – where she was employed in December last year.
The gloating post has been slammed by Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Douglas Ross MSP, who said: “This individual carried out a violent crime that will no doubt have caused severe distress to his victim.
“His jail sentence reflected the severity of what he has done, so the fact that he is already out on day release and bragging about it on social media is galling.”
An SPS spokeswoman said: “I’ve checked and prisoners on home leave are entitled to use social media.
“I cannot comment on individual prisoners but as long as there is no criminality in it then they can use it.
“Anyone who goes on home leave gets given a temporary licence card with set rules on it.”
The couple hatched a plan in August 2013 to force their victim into handing over hundreds of pounds by threatening to expose his alleged sleazy lifestyle.
In March 2014 the High Court in Edinburgh heard how the man, who could not be named for legal reasons, had been photographing Colquhoun at his home for a year.
It is believed the aspiring model performed sex acts on the amature photographer and paid him £150 per session.
But during a session on August 23 2013 Colquhoun let her boyfriend into the social worker’s Edinburgh home to inflict the brutal attack.
Claiming to be a member of an Ulster loyalist terror group who could do serious harm, Faulds repeatedly hit the middle-aged-man with a gas canister before urging him to hand over money.
He bound the council employee’s hands, legs and mouth up with gaffer tape and threatened to tell his work that he was taking illegal photographs of underage girls.
The intruder failed to access the photographer’s online bank account but ended up getting away with £800.
In April 2014 Faulds was sentenced to six years in prison while his girlfriend was handed three years’ detention.
