Edinburgh crime: East Lothian dad who sent naked picture of 6-year-old daughter to 'paedophile' jailed

Father sent naked picture of daughter to ‘paedophile’ in online sting

A dad who took a naked picture of his own daughter and sent the image to who he believed was a fellow paedophile has been jailed.

The man thought he was chatting online to a child abuser and admitted he had sexually abused the six-year-old child while he looked after her. The vile father, who lives in a town in East Lothian, also claimed he was forced to stop the sex attacks on his young daughter due to “his missus” possibly finding out about the abuse.

The offender, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, was subsequently snared in an online police sting after the man he was messaging turned out to be an undercover officer. The depraved dad pleaded guilty to taking his daughter’s picture while she was naked and attempting to distribute the image on a date between 2020 and 2021 when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

An East Lothian dad appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after he was caught sending a naked picture of his daughter

The man returned to the dock for sentencing on Thursday where a Sheriff Kenneth Campbell KC jailed the pervert for 13 months and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Last month the court was told National Crime Agency contacted Police Scotland to inform them the father had been identified during one of its online operations.

Fiscal depute Gillian Koren said the operation was carried out “in relation to child sexual abuse and exploitation” and an undercover officer had been deployed to pose as an adult male with an interest in children under the age of 14.

The court heard the officer made contact with the accused on the Kik messenger service and the father boasted he had access to a child, namely his own daughter. The pervert dad sent the officer an image of a child’s bed with a pair of pants lying on it which the fiscal said was “provided as proof of his status as a father with access to a child.”

The court heard the vile dad then agreed to send a photo of his child from the waist down.

When quizzed by the undercover officer how old the child was, the man replied she was just six years old.

He also told the officer he “used to [abuse the child] when she was younger” but this was now trickier due to “my missus”.

The man’s family home was subsequently raided by police officers under a warrant and he was arrested.

His horrified partner later told police the man was “very private with his phone and nobody was allowed to use it”.

Solicitor James McMackin, defending said his client’s conduct was “clearly a very disturbing matter” and added the man had “no contact” with his family since his arrest.