Court / Teenager to be sentenced for possessing indecent images of children

A TEENAGER who downloaded indecent images and videos of children has had his sentence deferred for background reports.

Eighteen year old Evan Moncrieff was found to have more than two hours of indecent videos on a mobile phone after a police search in August 2024.

Moncrieff, from Gott, Tingwall, also admitted having 46 indecent images of children on the iPhone, 10 of which were category A – the most serious categorisation.

His offending came to light after co-workers raised concerns about accounts Moncrieff had been following on social media, and the content they were posting.

Moncrieff admitted “taking, or permitting to be taken”, indecent images of children between 6 April and 27 August 2024.

He also admitted being in possession of indecent images of children between 13 June and 27 August 2024.

All of the offending took place when Moncrieff was just 17.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Thursday) that police had obtained a search warrant to investigate Moncrieff after concerns were raised.

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Moncrieff co-operated fully with the search, providing PIN numbers for two iPhones.

A preliminary examination of one of the devices found sexual abuse material, he said.

Both phones were then searched by cyber crime experts, with more material found on the same device.

Of indecent still images, they found 10 category A, 27 category B and nine category C photos, for a total of 46 images. All of these were initially inaccessible to police.

There were also 11 category A, nine category B and one category C videos, with a combined runtime of two hours, 41 minutes, the court heard.

All of the videos were freely accessible during the search.

The fiscal said Moncrieff had been talking to an individual on the messaging app Telegram, and had accessed 19 of the videos through that person.

During the exchanges Moncrieff specifically asked for what videos he would like to see, and later asked them to “send more videos”.

There were no indecent images on the other iPhone seized, but Mackenzie said it was clear from the search history that Moncrieff had a “sexual predilection” consistent with the images and videos found.

Mackenzie requested that the two iPhones seized by police be forfeited.

Defence agent Ellen MacDonald said she would reserve mitigation until background reports were available on Moncrieff.

She did not oppose forfeiture of the two mobile phones.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank deferred sentencing on Moncrieff for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report.

He did not make him subject to sexual offender notification requirements as the offending took place before he was 18, but said that would be re-examined when Moncrieff returns for sentencing on 27 August.