Yell man awaits sentencing for possession of child sexual images
Content warning: This story contains details of child sexual abuse. If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.
A TWENTY two year old man who downloaded sexual images and videos of children has been warned he could be jailed.
Kyle McKinnon, Yell, admitted possessing images of children as young as 12-18 months old, and of videos of children that were as young as four years old.
He told police that he was addicted to pornography when they executed a search warrant of his home on 17 April last year.
He admitted possessing indecent images of children on or between 17 January 2017 and 6 April 2025.
McKinnon also pleaded guilty to taking, or permitting to be taken, indecent images of children on or between 17 January 2017 and 17 April 2025.
Police had been alerted to McKinnon’s interest in children through intelligence, with the court hearing he was part of numerous chat groups about the subject.
McKinnon handed over an iPhone containing child sexual material to police during their search, which allowed them to arrest and charge him.
In total, 248 still images and 101 videos – with a total run-time of four hours, 13 minutes – were found on the device.
Of the still images, 41 were immediately accessible and a further 207 were inaccessible – or had been deleted – before being recovered by police.
Broken down, 34 of these were the most serious – category A – with 99 in category B and 115 in category C.
Ninety of the videos were immediately accessible to police, while a further 11 were inaccessible at first.
These were broken down into 36 category A videos, 36 category B and 29 in category C.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said it was clear from McKinnon’s involvement in chat groups across different sites that he had a “fairly high predilection for this kind of material”.
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Sheriff Philip Mann said sentence on McKinnon would be deferred for the preparation of background reports.
Tommy Allan, defending McKinnon, said he would reserve mitigation until reports were available on his client.
Sheriff Mann told McKinnon these were “very serious offences” and warned they could “easily lead to a custodial sentence”.
He urged McKinnon to co-operate fully with social work to “present yourself in the best possible light” to the court.
McKinnon will return for sentencing on 11 February.
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