A St Andrews paedophile who shared sick child abuse clips with other perverts was thwarted by a police dog when he tried to hide his phone in his grandfather’s bedroom.
Convicted sex offender Arron Kyle was brought from HMP Perth to Dundee Sheriff Court to admit taking or making and distributing the material.
Officers raided the St Andrews home he shared with his grandparents, accompanied by PD Willow, who is trained to sniff out hidden electronics.
Two weeks after appearing in court, Kyle was found to have breached his ongoing community payback order imposed for his previous stash of bestiality files and necro-porn and was jailed for two years.
Sick files sniffed out
Police raided the flat Kyle shared with his grandparents on the morning of July 31 last year.
The court heard the elderly couple had a bedroom each and Kyle slept in the living room.
Prosecutor Joanne Ritchie said: “Police executed a search warrant, granted on the basis of intelligence indicating indecent images of children had been downloaded there, with PD Willow.
“The accused said he only had an Xbox. His grandparents provided their devices and passwords.”
The property was searched and a tablet was found hidden under the sofa on which Kyle slept.
Another phone was sniffed out by PD Willow within in a blanket in Kyle’s grandfather’s room.
Police found 27 sick videos on the tablet, showing children as young as two.
Kyle told officers “sorry” before being taken to West Bell Street HQ where he denied having a sexual interest in children.
Ms Ritchie added: “He indicted he had a problem with people sending him indecent images of children.”
Analysis
In total, evidence of more than 470 images and more than 250 videos was found across Kyle’s phone and tablet.
Amongst these was a clip of a girl aged between four and six being raped by a grown man.
Another clip, lasting more than five minutes depicted a toddler being raped.
Police also found evidence of a modified version of notorious messaging app Kik called Kik Blue.
Data showed he had been in a group chat with 162 other users in which he shared more than 160 images.
24-year-old Kyle pled guilty to taking or making the illicit images between October 1 in 2020 and July 31 in 2024 at his home in St Andrews.
He also admitted distributing the vile content between January 6 and November 9 of 2023.
A day after the raid, he appeared in court in private where he was remanded.
Already jailed
The court heard Kyle’s previous extreme pornography conviction is the only other matter on his criminal record.
Eight months before this raid, Kyle was caught with other sickening films and pictures in a file marked “favourites” on his phone.
His solicitor David Bell said: “After he was remanded on August 1, he was then sentenced for a breach of the community payback order.
“The search of devices triggered breaches of conditions of the order.
“He received a sentence of 24 months imprisonment on August 15.”
Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith deferred sentencing until April 28 and placed Kyle on the sex offenders register again.
He said: “Whilst, generally, those who possess or download images do not necessarily expect custodial sentences, those who distribute will inevitably receive custodial sentences.
“Having regard to his previous conviction which is analogous, even if he had not been subject to supervision a report would have been necessary in order that the court may consider the imposition of an extended sentence.”
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