A man who was caught with indecent videos of children as young as one year old claimed he was a paedophile hunter inspired by a TikTok video.
Sick videos classed as Category A – the most severe kind – that featured children aged between one and 14 years old were discovered on Iain Kenneth’s mobile phone.
He was caught with them on the device when police raided his home at the time after receiving a tip-off about his internet activity.
But the 66-year-old told officers: “I’m really not what you think. I got this idea in my head, I saw some TikTok videos about people that hunt paedophiles”.
Kenneth appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court where he pled guilty to charges of taking, permitting to be taken or making and possessing indecent images of children.
Iain Kenneth: ‘I saw some TikTok videos’
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that police had gone to Kenneth’s former home in Glenlivet with a search warrant on September 8 last year.
Officers at the National Child Abuse Unit in Inverness had received intelligence about “the uploading of child sexual abuse material to the internet”.
She said: “When police knocked on the door, there was no response, but the accused was traced at his workplace and returned home – allowing the officers access to the property.
“An iPhone and iPad were seized and cybercrime experts examined them, indecent images of children were found on the phone and the accused was arrested.”
Following his arrest Kenneth told officers: “I’m really not what you think I am. I got this idea in my head. I saw some TikTok videos about people that hunt paedophiles.
“In hindsight, it was a bad idea. It is so easy to find them.”
The court heard that a digital forensic examination of Kenneth’s iPhone uncovered two accessible Category A videos.
They featured children aged between one and 14 years.
Also detected were one inaccessible still image and one inaccessible video.
Kenneth gave a “no comment” interview throughout police questioning and made no reply to being cautioned and charged.
Placed on rehabilitation programme for sex offenders
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald deferred sentencing Kenneth, of MacDuff Street in Lossiemouth, to allow time for the production of a criminal justice social work report.
Kenneth’s suitability for the Moving Forward: Making Changes rehabilitation programme for sex offenders will also be assessed in the meantime.
Solicitor Robert Cruickshank reserved his comments in mitigation for the sentencing hearing.
But Kenneth was immediately placed on the sex offenders register and the length of his registration will be determined when he reappears in the dock.
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