A police officer accused of sending explicit images of himself to a domestic abuse victim had his home searched and phone seized by anti-corruption officers, a trial has heard.
Kyle MacKinnon was a serving police officer based at Keith when he was sent to assist colleagues at an incident of domestic abuse on November 28 2018.
The following day he is alleged to have added the victim of that abuse on Snapchat before going on to have multiple conversations with her over the social media app.
MacKinnon, 38, is facing two charges of sending indecent images or communications to a woman without her consent and one charge of sexual assault whereby he is accused of trying to kiss her in an interview room at Keith police station.
He is standing trial at Elgin Sheriff Court and denies all the charges, which were alleged to have taken place between November 28 and December 18 2018.
Colleague sent to search Elgin home
During the second day of the trial – which first started in February – heard how officers from Police Scotland’s anti-corruption unit were sent to execute a search warrant of his home in May 2018, just weeks after his alleged victim showed officers naked images of him on her phone.
Detective Sergeant Gavin Lindsay told the court he was shown the images by the complainer and was able to identify the man in them as Kyle MacKinnon.
The woman refused to hand over her phone but he organised a further visit to her home days later where a memory card was used to transfer screenshots of the images.
During a search of MacKinnon’s home, photographs were taken by officers of the inside of his house.
When asked if it was the same bedroom as those in explicit photos, he said: “I believe it’s the same bedroom.”
DS Lindsay told procurator fiscal Sharon Ralph that said MacKinnon “cooperated fully” with the unlocking of his phone so that it could be forensically examined.
Police didn’t seize woman’s phone
The court previously heard how messages were sent to the woman from a Snapchat account named ‘Kyle’ which showed a man naked from the waist down, holding his penis while lying on a flowery duvet in a pink-walled room.
Discussing those images in depth on day two of the trial, defence advocate Mark Stewart KC suggested to DS Lindsay: “The opportunity to investigate the source of transfer of the photographs you were being shown was lost, or certainly not pursued, by the failure to take her phone? The data and the background about the transfer was lost?”
The police sergeant replied: “Yes”.
Mr Stewart also suggested forensic examiners had been able to go through “every nook and cranny” of MacKinnon’s phone whereas the evidence from the complainer’s phone was “delivered to you, prepared by her”.
Suggested images came from someone else, not officer
Mr Stewart KC put it to another witness, Police Scotland’s cyber crime forensics team leader Ewan Stewart, that the images of MacKinnon that the complainer provided to police could have been sent to her from a third party rather than from MacKinnon himself.
The forensic expert was quizzed on whether the images had been shared by WhatsApp or Snapchat, or both, and whether there could have been a third party involved.
In his evidence, he confirmed that the images found on the complainer’s phone and the one found on MacKinnon’s device were “similar but different”.
He told Mr Stewart KC: “If you are asking could this have been somebody else that sent the image, that’s possible, yes.”
Court heard how pair met
MacKinnon first crossed paths with his alleged victim after he was called to her address in Keith in response to a call about domestic abuse on November 27, 2018.
He then returned the following day to take a further statement and on the same day is alleged to have sent her a friend request on Snapchat.
The woman’s boyfriend was initially held on remand in prison for two weeks during which time the woman, having accepted that Snapchat connection request, sent messages back and forth with MacKinnon for what she described as “insider information” on her case.
But the 31-year-old woman alleges the officer then took things “too far” and began asking for Snapchat pictures that showed more of her face and less of just her shoulder before he sent at least two indecent images exposing his private parts to her.
Fiscal depute Ralph told the court that one image sent by ‘Kyle’ was accompanied by the caption: “So if you were here right now what would you want to do?xxx”
‘Still not feeling a bit naughty?’
Another similar image followed with the words: “Still not feeling a bit naughty?”
And a further exchange between this Snapchat account and the woman read: “Why are you saving the chats?”
She replied: “No reason. So can give (abusive boyfriend’s name) his phone back or the court will?”
The response was: “Yeh, the court will. Please delete the chats you have saved.”
When she asked “why” the reply came: “Cos I shouldn’t be texting you about this stuff if that makes sense.
“I shouldn’t have sent the pics either.”
His alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she did not give the officer her Snapchat details but that once she accepted his request he contacted her “nearly every night”.
Allegation of sexual assault in station
She denied she was flattered by the messages.
“It got more personal,” she continued. “If I Snapped him, it was usually my shoulder then he started asking to see my face. That’s how it started.
“He never sent blank pictures it was always a Snap of himself. He would send indecent picture, more private photos, indecent ones of down below … of his naked penis.”
Alleged contact between the pair stopped fully after an incident in which the woman claimed saw MacKinnon try to pull her in for a kiss as she went to leave an interview room at Keith police office at some point during the three-week period in November- December 2018.
She claimed she had no doubt about what he was trying to do after he later messaged her to apologise.
Asked her how his conduct towards her and the images made her feel, she replied: “Horrible. It just made me feel awkward.”
Defence suggests Snapchat account was fabricated
MacKinnon’s defence advocate put it to the woman that the attempted kiss simply did not happen and that the images and messages were not sent by his client.
“Of the many, many photos and the many, many pieces of text you claim to have received we have two photos and none of which we can trace,” he said.
He told her one of the pieces of texts alleged to have been from MacKinnon, was “not one that he had created by him but simply represented part of what he had told you in verbal communications”.
“It’s easy enough to fabricate a header of ‘Kyle’ on Snapchat,” he added.
The trial involving MacKinnon, of Dove Avenue, Elgin, will continue in June.
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