An Edinburgh man who was caught in a paedophile hunter sting outside the Scottish Parliament after he sent sick sexual messages to who he believed was a young schoolgirl escaped a jail sentence.
While, a man who raped two young women in Edinburgh and Paisley had his prison sentence increased by three years following a successful appeal by the Crown.
And, a vile pensioner caught with more than one million child abuse images escaped custody, but was warned he faces spending years in jail if he breaches a court order.
1. Jailed for a series of serious sexual offences
Sam Brown, 20, was jailed for seven years at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, September 2, for sexual offences including the rape of four girls between March and December 2022. He was previously found guilty of seven charges on Tuesday, 30 July, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. He was also issued non-harassment orders against each of his victims indefinitely. Speaking about Brown’s crimes, Detective Inspector Keith Taylor said: “Brown will now rightly face the consequences of his deplorable actions. I would like to commend the young women for their strength in coming forward during this investigation and helping us build a compelling case against him. I hope this outcome provides them with some sense of closure and allows them to move on from this horrendous ordeal." | Police Scotland
2. Man caught with child abuse images and videos jailed for 20 months
Anthony Ward was found with more than 85,000 pictures and videos of children being sexually abused by adults when police raided his Edinburgh home last year. During the police investigation officers also discovered the 66-year-old had been contacting children on an online video website and offering them money to perform sex acts. Ward pleaded guilty to a charge of taking or allowing to be taken images of children at his home between November 2020 and March last year when he appeared at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court in August. He also admitted to two offences of directing sexual communication towards children and instructing them to perform sex acts and returned to the dock for sentencing on September 10. Ward, of the city’s Calder area, was jailed for 20 months and was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years. | Alexander Lawrie
3. Pensioner's series of sexual offences
A pensioner who carried out a series of offences including exposing himself and watching men urinate in public toilets was jailed in September. Robert Cockburn, 77, had previously been jailed and placed on an ASBO following separate offending last year. But following his release from prison Cockburn began to breach a court ASBO by entering the public toilets in Port Seton, East Lothian. He was arrested on July 7 and after spending the night in custody he appeared at the capital court to admit the offence the following day. Over the next four weeks Cockburn committed further offences at public toilets at Waverley train station in Edinburgh and exposed himself to members of the public at the High Street in Musselburgh. He also exposed himself to others at a dental practice in Prestonpans. Cockburn pleaded guilty to a total of 13 offences including breaches of bail at a court hearing in Edinburgh in August and sentence was deferred for the possibility of the pensioner being admitted to a care home. The court heard in September that there was no indication a care home was willing to accept him as a resident. Sheriff Roderick Flinn said he had no option but to impose a custodial sentence and Cockburn was jailed for a total of eight months across all charges. Cockburn was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years. | Alexander Lawrie
4. Pensioner caught with more than a million child sex abuse images
Leslie Rutherford, 69, was found to be in possession of the huge amount of horrific material - with some images depicting infants - when police raided his former home in Edinburgh. Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the massive amount of pictures and videos discovered on devices belonging to the OAP meant that police investigators were forced to give up grading them. Prosecutor Morgan Beattie told the court Rutherford was a registered sex offender after he was convicted of possessing more than 370,000 child abuse images in 2021. As part of his sentence police officers were required to attend his home to check any electronic devices, and during one visit it was found he had accessed a website named ‘Sugar Candy’. The fiscal told the court hundreds of thousands of child abuse images were discovered hidden within computer folders containing photographs of a house renovation. Rutherford, now of Kirkcaldy, Fife, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse images at a hearing at the capital’s sheriff court and he was back in the dock for sentencing on September 13. Rutherford was placed on supervision for three years and on his name will be added to the sex offenders register for the same term. Sheriff Fife also imposed a conduct requirement that the pensioner must attend sessions with the sex offenders organisation Moving Forward Making Changes. | Alexander Lawrie