A “strange” and “weird” pervert who sent explicit Snapchat videos to north-east children as young as 10 has been jailed for more than a year.
Stonehaven man Callum Findlay was caught in the act by one of his victim’s mothers who contacted him posing as a 14-year-old.
After replying “cool,” Findlay sent her around 20 videos – which she saved to a USB stick and handed to police.
The 27-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month and admitted sharing explicit images and messages with children under 16 on various occasions between November 2018 and April 2019.
One of his victims was just 10-years-old at the time of the offence.
During all of the interactions on social media app Snapchat, Findlay did not use his real name or show his entire face.
At one point he claimed to be 18, living in Aberdeen and attending secondary school.
As well as sending unsolicited pictures, he also invited a number of the girls to send photos of themselves back.
Some of the people he communicated with were adults, who were “perfectly content” to reciprocate with their own images, the court heard.
Findlay was snared when police cross-referenced the Snapchat photos to pictures on his other social media accounts.
When they arrested him in October 2019, they noted his bedroom furniture matched the background of the explicit videos.
Yesterday Findlay’s solicitor Laura Gracie explained he had not long exited a “fairly stable” relationship which had taken a toll on his mood.
She said: “He knows this is not an appropriate use of his time.
“He has come to the realisation this can simply not continue.”
Ms Gracie said Findlay is now in an online relationship with a 23-year-old woman in America.
But Sheriff Graham Buchanan replied: “It’s an online relationship. Probably involves the sort of stuff that got him into all this trouble.
“It’s quite unhealthy and strange. Weird, you could say.”
And referencing the explicit images, he told her: “You hear about all sorts of weird and wonderful activities that people get up to that are regarded as maybe not completely out of order by those who participate in them.
“Whereas you or I – and many, many other right-thinking people – would think it is appalling people would behave like this.”
Findlay, of Forest Park, was sentenced to 14 months behind bars and placed on the sex offenders’ register.
Sheriff Buchanan said: “The sort of behaviour in which you indulged is totally unacceptable.
“You sent these images and messages to children, including one who was as young as 10.
“I appreciate there were other charges in which material was received by people who could be described as adults – but it needs to be clear that behaviour of this type towards children is something which the court will treat very seriously indeed.”
