Scotland considers chemically castrating high-risk sex offenders

The voluntary pilot scheme would be a first for Scotland

Participants will receive their treatment and then will be monitored by officials (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

High-risk sex offenders in Scotland could be chemically castrated to stop them from reoffending.

Under a voluntary scheme, convicts in Glasgow will be given medication to reduce their libido.

The pilot scheme, currently being considered by the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, would be a first for Scotland.

Participants will receive their treatment and then will be monitored by officials.

Margaret-Ann Cummings, whose son Mark was killed by a paedophile when he was eight-years-old, told the Scottish Daily Mail she cautiously welcomed the plan.

"If sex offenders are volunteering to go through with this and willing to change to stop other people being hurt then they should be offered every support possible," she said.

“However, it is vital that authorities are not using the public as guinea pigs in an experiment here. Everything must be tightly controlled.”

The project could serve as a blueprint for similar schemes across the UK.

A spokesman for the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership told The Scotsman: “This initiative is at an early stage... but it is anticipated that anti-libidinal drugs would be used on a case-by-case basis where appropriate.”

In 2008, more than 100 convicted sex offenders at Whatton Prison in Nottinghamshire received medication to reduce their sex drive and the results were described as "encouraging".