A mum posed as a 14-year-old girl on Snapchat to help catch a north-east pervert.
The woman took action upon learning that her 14-year-old daughter had been added as a friend on the social media app by Callum Findlay, who used a fake name.
She added him from her own account and said she was aged 14, to which Findlay replied “cool” before going on to send her around 20 sexually explicit videos.
The mum later turned up at Queen Street police station armed with a USB stick containing evidence of the vile videos.
Officers eventually managed to snare the 27-year-old pervert when a social media search identified an image of him, and his teeth matched those displayed in pictures he sent to another victim of his mouth, “snarling”.
Fiscal depute Felicity Merson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “This case involves the accused communicating with six females using the social media platform Snapchat.”
Mrs Merson said Findlay used a false name during all the interactions and never showed his full face in any of the images or videos he sent.
Between November 1 2018 and February 28 2019 Findlay added a 20-year-old woman on Snapchat using the fake name. She accepted and the pair “exchanged general messages” before Findlay went on to send a sexually explicit video.
Mrs Merson said: “The accused also sent her two close up images of his mouth snarling where his teeth were clearly visible.”
The woman contacted police about the incident.
Mrs Merson told the court: “On April 14 2019 a 10-year-old girl received a Snapchat friend request from the accused using his false identity. His location settings were switched off.
“A small number of messages were exchanged.”
The court heard the girl had asked who Findlay was, and he indicated that they had mutual friends and asked her to send him a picture, which she did. The image was not indecent.
Mrs Merson said: “He responded by calling her ‘cutie’. The accused sent her an image of a young male and pretended to her that the image was of him.
“The accused confirmed that he was in high school. The girl pointed out that she was not and that she was 10 years old.”
The following day when the girl went to primary school she checked her phone and discovered a number of sexually explicit videos from Findlay and became upset.
Another mum at the school saw the girl crying and took her into the school where the girl told a teacher what had upset her. The teacher contacted the girl’s parents and they informed the police.
Later on April 15 the mum who had seen the 10-year-old girl crying was told by her own daughter, aged 14, that a male had tried to contact her on Snapchat.
Mrs Merson said: “The woman sent him a friend request from her own Snapchat account. This was immediately accepted by the user of the other account.
“They engaged in general chat, during which time the accused informed her that he was 18 years old, lived in Aberdeen and he named the secondary school he attended.
“The woman informed the accused that she was 14 years old to which he replied ‘cool’. She pretended to be 14 years old as she wished to probe why this male had contacted her daughter of that age.
“She asked the accused to send a picture of himself to see what he looked like. The accused sent the same image of a male which he had sent the 10-year-old girl.
“The woman knew the person the photo was actually of. She later warned the boy’s parents about his photo being used by this male.”
Findlay then sent a number of sexually explicit videos to the woman.
The fiscal depute said: “Between April 15 and April 17 2019 she received approximately 20 videos of this nature.”
Findlay did not show his face in the videos but a male’s voice with an Aberdeen accent could be heard making a sexual comment and referring to himself as “daddy”.
Mrs Merson said: “The woman noted that the location settings on the offending profile were turned on and indicated that the accused was in Stonehaven.
“She later attended at Queen Street Police Office and provided police with a USB stick on which she had copied the videos sent to her by the accused.”
Findlay also added three further females, two aged 16 and one 15, on Snapchat using the same false name and false picture and sent them sexually explicit videos over a number of weeks.
In messages to the 15-year-old Findlay asked to see her “pretty” face and sent vile sexual comments. She eventually disclosed what had happened to her sister who contacted the police.
Mrs Merson said: “Police, in relation to a separate matter, were provided with a telephone number which they ascertained was used by the accused.
“They established his address. Police carried out a social media search and identified an image of the accused. It was noted that the accused’s teeth in the image were the same as those in the close-up images which he had sent to one of the complainers.
“An evidential search warrant was craved and granted for the accused’s address.
“This was executed on October 28 2019. At that time police saw that the accused’s bedroom, with its particular decoration and furniture, was the room in which the videos had been filmed.
“The accused was arrested.”
Findlay, whose address was given in court papers as Forest Park in Stonehaven, pled guilty to six charges.
He admitted causing a woman to look at a sexual image without consent, causing a 10-year-old girl to look at a sexual image and causing a person he believed to be a child aged 14 to look at a sexual image.
Findlay also admitted sending written communications of a sexual nature without consent, causing two teenagers to look at a sexual image without consent, and a further charge of causing a third teen to look at a sexual image without consent.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan warned Findlay: “These are very serious matters and before I can proceed to sentence I’m required to obtain background information about you.”
He deferred sentence until next month and for the preparation of a social work report and restriction of liberty order assessment.
Defence agent Laura Gracie reserved mitigation until the sentencing hearing.
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