Scots sex beast Steven McInally bought a notorious death house one month before he was caught with child sex abuse images, we can reveal.
Just months before he was arrested trying to get into the US, he spent £144,000 on a derelict house – which had lay empty for years after a man killed his mum and then torched the property.
McInally, 36, from Tollcross in Glasgow, is now serving a 25-year jail term in America. The predator was caught smuggling child abuse images he made at a sleepover at his home, when he touched down in Florida for a holiday in August 2023.
He ran Go Wild soft play centre in the east end of the city before he was searched and detained by border control officers at the airport.
Property records show he still owns the fire ravaged home in the Colston area, north of Glasgow, where Jeffrey Ash killed his mother, Ellen, in March 2011, then fled to London.
A source said: “It was a lovely home and it’s a great property, but people around there wouldn’t touch it due to the tragedy that had taken place there.
“Everyone thought it was really weird when he wanted to buy it – most folk couldn’t understand how anyone would want to live in a house where something like that had happened.
“Who knows what will happen to it now that he’s been jailed for 25 years in the States – he’s obviously not going to be moving in to it anytime soon.”
When firefighters arrived at the property they found the 83-year-old’s badly-burned body on the living room floor – with six bottles of white spirit and turpentine substitute dotted around the home.
Jeffrey had fled to London on a bus but handed himself in to officers at Belgravia police station that afternoon, and admitted what he’d done to his mother.
He confessed: “I killed my mum last night. I smothered her then I burnt the house down. I could not see her suffering anymore – she had Alzheimer’s. I then got on a bus to London. I could not stay around there anymore – I had to get away.”
In September 2013, Jeffrey was jailed for 40 months over his mum’s death after pleading guilty to charges of culpable homicide and wilful fire-raising.
In August 2022, nearly 11-and-a-half years after the killing, the property was put on the market by Auction House Scotland, with a guide price of £85,000.
A listing on online property sale website rightmove.co.uk described the house as a “Builder / Developer opportunity” saying it was a “fantastic development/refurb opportunity”.
The listing added: “The property has been extensively fire damaged in the past and there are large amounts of rubbish and other effects throughout the property, deemed hazardous for viewers.”
“As such, no internal viewings are available, although the available photographs and video offer an indication of internal condition.” Title deeds show that McInally purchased the property.
McInally paid £144,000 for the house, with the date of entry recorded as September 13, 2022, and the date of registration noted as July 7, 2023.
The following month he was held at Florida’s Melbourne International Airport.
An investigation revealed that some of the indecent images had been taken at his home in Glasgow.
The United States Attorney’s Office said: “Some of the child sexual abuse material found on McInally’s cellphone included images of minors that had been taken during a sleepover party that the minors attended at his home.”
Police Scotland said it had sent a report to Scottish prosecutors in connection with alleged offences committed in Scotland. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said a report has been received.
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter.