Edinburgh pervert caught with hundreds of horrific child abuse movies

A PERVERT who was caught with hundreds of child abuse movies on his phone by his new boyfriend has escaped a jail sentence.

Caught with child abuse films: Blair Houliston

Blair Houliston was found with films showing children as young as two-years-old “bound and gagged” while being sexually abused by adults.

Houliston, 27, used WhatsApp and Kick Messenger to contact paedophiles in the US who sent him the horrific abuse images.

He told one online paedophile he was into “kids, rape and incest” and was caught with hundreds of images and movies when police raided his home in 2018.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told Houliston was arrested after his new boyfriend was left shocked after spotting disturbing material on his mobile phone and raised the alarm.

Houliston admitted possessing the indecent images of children during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year and returned to the dock for sentencing.

Sheriff John Mundy said: “This behaviour is quite disgraceful and I hope you have had some insight into how this affects children.

“However I am treating you a first offender and the report heavily recommends in your case a community payback order.

“But I have to warn you now that I was considering a custodial sentence and if you don’t comply [with the CPO] it won’t be a short one.”

Houliston, of Greendykes, Edinburgh, was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for two years and on a supervision order for the same length of time as a direct alternative to custody.

He will also have to attend the Moving Forward Making Changes organisation as part of a conduct requirement imposed by the court.

Previously the court was told Houliston was in contact with paedophiles in Texas and the online chats had been “extremely sexual in nature”

He had been asked by one pervert ‘What are you into, sir?’ and Houliston was said to have replied “kids, rape and incest”.

He was then sent scores of child abuse videos and images through the online apps.

Prosecutor Rosie Cook said Houliston had met a new partner through a dating app in March 2018 and invited the man back to his home later that month.

The fiscal said during the meeting the man saw “something concerning on Houliston’s mobile phone” and decided to contact the police.

Ms Cook added officers found hundreds of images including those of two-year-old children being abused on a computer program known as Mega, which was said to be similar to Dropbox.

Solicitor Kevin Connor, defending, said his client was a first offender and had suffered from ADHD from the age of six though he added Houliston is not using that as an excuse into his behaviour.

Mr Connor added the amount of images shared by Houliston was small and he had been attending the Stop It Now group since pleading guilty to the offences.

Houliston pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home address between January 21, 2015 and April 4, 2018.

He also admitted to distributing indecent images of children between January 21, 2015 and January 21, 2018.

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