Bearsden perv caught with abuse images of children as young as 6months

Kieran Ali, 31, was already on the sex offenders' register for life after sending sexual messages to people he thought were children.

Then a routine police check at his Bearsden home looked at his phone and found dozens of explicit images of abuse of babies and children.

There were 98 still images found, with 33 of them accessible without specialist software. Five of those 33 were in the most serious category A, the images of children ranging in age from nine months old to 10 years.

There were 86 moving images, with 56 of them accessible and 34 at the most serious category. They ranged in age from just six months old to 12 years.

Descriptions of two of the most serious examples were read out in court but are too extreme to be reported. A child was visibly upset, Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard.

Fiscal depute Kirsten Brierley said police found the images in a folder marked for the social media app "Telegram". There was a chat conversation in the app showing Ali was involved in distributing images.

"He can be seen to ask to trade with another user," said the prosecutor.

Ali pleaded guilty to being in possession of indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children, and to distributing or showing such images. This was between March 21 and August 22, 2024 at a property in Douglas Place, Bearsden.

His defence solicitor said he had lost his tenancy and he recognised that jail would be "at the forefront" of the court's mind.

He said: "His involvement is through Telegram. It was a single chat - the majority was the other way around with the other user providing images to Mr Ali.

"Unfortunately it's a sad case.

"The images were not systematically stored. He was simply a user - there was no commercial purpose. He accepts it was distributed, but not for financial purposes.

"He has a few relatives who still support him. He has lost his home.

"From an early stage, he has indicated he wished to resolve this matter."

Sheriff Frances McCartney deferred sentence until February for reports to be prepared.

In 2021 at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Ali was jailed for a total of 32 months and on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

He pleaded guilty to six charges involving sending messages of a sexual nature on social media to people he thought were children. They were actually from a paedophile hunters group.

The decoy "children" were aged 12-14, asking them for sexual images and even suggesting he could send money to encourage them.

Ali was then confronted in a livestream at his work.

But he then did the same crime again just months later, persistently asking a supposed 13-year-old for a photo and then arranging to meet them at his home. He did this twice before calling off the meeting.

He gave his address and the group turned up at his home, and he was arrested again.

Sheriff Daniel Kelly KC told Ali in that case: "Although the personas were not children, you operated on the assumption that they were.

"Had they been children your conduct could have had a long-lasting impact upon them and they could have suffered significant emotional and psychological harm.

"Your behaviour had a pattern to it, involving the contacting of five personas. There was an element of grooming involved, applying pressure and offering inducements by way of payments.

"After you had been confronted and arrested in August 2019, you persisted in your conduct in December and even made reference to what had occurred before, saying that you were scared as a result of it."