Category Archives: Renfrewshire

Robert Malaney – Barrhead

12 Monday Jul 2021

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July 2021

Twisted pensioner used a camera hidden in a shopping basket to film up children’s skirts and collected 8,000 images

A predatory pensioner from Barrhead hid a camera in a shopping basket to film up the skirts of children before sharing the clips with paedophiles across the world.

Vile Robert Malaney, 76, amassed a horrific haul of more than 8,000 images during a seven-year long campaign of child exploitation

Malaney prowled the now-closed Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Paisley, Glasgow Central Station and other public areas in Barrhead and covertly filmed footage of children.

The creep trailed around after youngsters, secretly recording voyeuristic images of their bottoms, underwear and privates.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard when cops raided his home in Barrhead, after a tip-off from child protection officers, they found more than 8,000 indecent images featuring child sexual exploitation.

Malaney had also been sharing images online with a notorious paedophile website registered in Russia.

Procurator fiscal depute Ed Sheeran told the court cops raided his home on October 2 last year after receiving intelligence he was sharing indecent images online.

He said: “When the warrant was read out to him, he placed his hands on his head.

“During the course of the search, a number of items were seized.

“These included a Lenova laptop, a number of computer hard drives, a USB stick and a blue tub containing eight SD cards.”

The devices were analysed by cyber crime experts, who discovered four Category A, 26 Category B and 8,285 Category C images depicting the sexual exploitation of children.

Also in his vile stash were 14 video files he had recorded himself of young girls.

The prosecutor added: “Covert recordings were discovered on the devices.

“Footage had been taken in various locations such as supermarkets, shopping centres and other public places.

“On August 9, 2016, the film was taken from a shopping basket at a low angle.

“The images show a female child aged between eight and 12 and at four separate points the images capture up the child’s skirt, capturing her underwear.

“In the footage, the camera holder follows the child, making multiple efforts to capture the footage.”

The court heard Malaney targeted another young girl, whose age was not determined, at another supermarket, where he again recorded “up skirt footage of her underwear”.

Mr Sheeran added thousands of images had been edited together, “so that they almost played like a video”.

Another video file featured him secretly recording a girl in Barrhead, where his voice can be heard as the camera points up the child’s skirt, capturing her underwear.

The court heard Malaney had been involved in creating “first generation” images depicting the sexual exploitation of youngsters.

These are images were then hosted in websites abroad including Russia.

The prosecutor added: “A number of websites were related to the images found.

“These websites allow users to upload and download images.

“One is frequently used by users to upload Category C images.”

Mr Sheeran said a particular website involved is the subject of “an international criminal investigation”.

Malaney pleaded guilty to charges of creating indecent images of children on dates between March 2013 and September 2020.

He admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner by covertly recording indecent images of children at Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Paisley, Glasgow Central Station and various locations in Barrhead by filming up their skirts and keeping the recordings on dates between April 2013 and September 2019.

He also pleaded guilty to operating equipment to film covert footage of a child in Barrhead in August 2016.

His defence agent confirmed Malaney was admitting responsibility for the offences, but asked to reserve his plea in mitigation until after the court receives background reports in preparation for sentencing.

Sheriff Mark Thorley placed first offender Malaney on the Sex Offenders’ Register and released him on bail to call for reports.

He said: “You are now subject to registration procedures, the length of which will be determined at sentencing.”

Prosecutors also called for a Sexual Offence Prevention Order (SOPO) to be placed on Malaney for protection of the public, which will be decided when he appears back at court on August

Barry McCormick – Paisley

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

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June 2021

Child sex fiend found with thousands of vile images

A paedophile who confessed to having an “unhealthy sexual interest” in children was snared with more than 2,400 indecent images and videos.

Barry McCormick, 34, was caught with horrific videos and pictures depicting the sexual abuse of girls as young as six, and boys as young as 12, when cops raided his house following a tip-off from child protection officers.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard shamed McCormick had downloaded – and was even sharing – the vile material with other perverts via an online programme on his computer.

Procurator fiscal depute Ed Sheeran told the court that police staged a dawn raid at McCormick’s house in Gallowhill on July 3, last year.

He said: “Intelligence was received that the internet at a property was being used to download indecent images of children and the user had them available for share.

“A warrant was granted and at 7am on July 3, 2020, police attended at the property where they were granted access.

“The accused was within the address, along with his brother.

“During the search, a Lenovo blue laptop was seized. Also, an iPhone 7 was recovered and an iPhone 11 was removed from the accused’s possession.”

The court heard an initial examination of the devices showed the presence of both Category A and B images.

McCormick was arrested and taken into custody where he admitted downloading indecent images of children.

He also told cops he had used online storage to stash them, and admitted further indecent material would be found on the devices.

Cops also found software for sharing the sick content with other online perverts.

The prosecutor added: “He said he was responsible for it.

“He said he considered himself as having an unhealthy sexual interest in children, but did not believe himself to be damaging to children.”

Forensic analysis revealed McCormick had hoarded 2,418 images and videos on his devices, with 18 Category A images, 99 Category B and 2,301 Category C.

An example of a Category A video depicted a girl aged six being violated by a man.

Another showed a boy of 12 being abused by a different man.

He appeared in the dock before Sheriff Brian Mohan where he pleaded guilty to permitting or allowing to be taken indecent photographs of children at his address in Paisley between March 24 and May 29, last year.

He also admitted possessing indecent photographs of children between March 24 and July 3, last year.

Defence agent Terry Gallanagh reserved his defence submission until after the court had background reports.

Sheriff Mohan, who placed McCormick on the Sex Offenders’ Register, told him: “There is a common delusion among people that this is a victim free crime.

“Because it involves previously made pictures of children already abused. But your activities only encourage further abuse of children.

“Do not delude yourself that there is no real harm here.”

McCormick was ordered back to court on July 27.

Alexander Murphy – Paisley

12 Saturday Jun 2021

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June 2021

Police officer plied underage girls with booze and sexually assaulted one at party

A police officer sexually assaulted a schoolgirl at a party after plying her and other underage girls with alcohol.

Alexander Murphy touched the 15-year-old inappropriately after previously telling her that she was his ‘favourite’ and that he thought she was ‘cute – but not in a paedophile way’.

A court heard he asked her if she would “come up to bed and stay” if he did a handstand for her – and touched his crotch while doing gymnastics moves.

Murphy, who has since resigned from the force in disgrace, was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register yesterday after holding his hands up to his “creepy” actions.

Murphy, 49, appeared in the dock at Hamilton Sheriff Court for a pre-trial hearing and pleaded guilty to two of the four charges he faced.

He admitted sexually assaulting a girl, who can’t be named for legal reasons, and committing a breach of the peace by supplying alcohol to underage girls and making inappropriate remarks to them, at a property in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Alice Carey said the crimes were committed on March 8, 2019.

The prosecutor said Murphy took a group of girls, including the girl he went on to sexually assault, to a local off-sales.

She explained: “They got Dragon Soup and a bottle of Echo Falls wine each.

“They all started drinking. The accused decreed more people were allowed to attend, but only girls because he wanted a girlfriend.

“More girls arrived and the accused went to the off sales to get more alcohol for the girls who’d also attended.”

The court also heard he bought a litre of vodka and he sold it on to two other girls who did not have any alcohol – by measuring it out into the equivalent of two quarter bottles and charging them £5 each.

The prosecutor said some of the girls at the party ended up really drunk, as did Murphy.

She explained: “He started acting inappropriately, asking the girls their ages and saying, ‘I better not tell my wife, I’ll get into trouble’.”

He put his hand onto one of the girls’ knees and rubbed it while she was sitting down, and then placed his hands on her hips while they were dancing.

And the court heard he had previously said to the girl, ‘You’re my favourite, you’re a wee cutie. You’ve got a cute smile, but I don’t mean it in a pedophile way’.

Miss Carey added: “Many of the girls were concerned and thought he was being creepy.

“Three boys arrived at the party and did not drink alcohol.

“They did not see anything inappropriate on the part of the accused.

“They said he was drunk and was hovering about speaking nonsense.”

And she said that, whilst he was doing “some sort of gymnastics move” he was touching his crotch at the same time.

The matter was later reported to police and Murphy, who was based in Livingston at the time, admitted what he’d done when interviewed.

Sheriff Mungo Bovey QC called for background reports to be prepared, placed Murphy, of Paisley, on the Sex Offenders’ Register, and adjourned the case until next month.

Stewart Henderson – Paisley

06 Sunday Jun 2021

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June 2021

Pervert sent naked selfies to ’14-year-old girl’

A sex beast who sent naked selfies to what he thought was an underage girl and asked for her pants has pleaded guilty.

Stewart Henderson, 53, sent naked selfies and requested love letters from the 14-year-old girl named ‘Daniella’

But he was unaware that he was interacting with an adult decoy, Paisley Sheriff Court heard.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Ed Sheeran said that Henderson, of Paisley, sent dozens of indecent messages to the profile over a six-day period last year.

The prosecutor told Sheriff Bruce Erroch that Henderson had reached out to the decoy profile in question on Facebook Messenger on August 30, 2020.

But it was not the real profile of an underage girl, and was actually run by an adult decoy working with the Elite Solo Decoys group, based in England.

Mr Sheeran explained: “They patrol the internet for adults who seek to speak to children for the purposes of sexual gratification.”

He said Henderson had tried to video call the profile in question but that the call went unanswered.

He then messaged the profile saying, “do you want me?”, with the decoy replying, “what you mean?”, prompting him to say, “to make love with you”.

And, when the decoy replied that she was only 14, he said he was 53, told her he loved her and asked her to be his girlfriend.

He then said he would wait until she was 16 before their relationship turned physical.

But, the court heard, the conversation then became “highly sexualised”, with Henderson insisting the youngster was his girlfriend and asking if she’d sleep with him.

He then sent a naked selfie to the profile and asked to be sent a love letter containing dirty pants and a picture of the girl.

He admitted in the messages that he could be jailed if he was caught, and the decoy began to wind down the messages.

And, after he gave over his name and address, he was confronted by members of the group who snared him at his home.

The ‘sting’ was live streamed on Facebook and, the court heard, he stated: “Yeah, I know. It won’t happen again.”

And, when police officers arrived at his home to investigate, they were able to identify the wallpaper in his bedroom as the same wallpaper from the naked selfies he’d sent.

Henderson, who lived in Barrhead at the time, admitted breaking Sections 31, 33 and 34(1) of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

The charge stated he sent messages to what he believed to be a child, between the ages of 13 and 16, “for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification”.

Sheriff Erroch called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until next month for that to be done.

The judge will also decide whether Henderson should be made the subject of a strict Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

David Bennett – Paisley

20 Thursday May 2021

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May 2021

Scots sex beast caught with horrific child abuse images after cops raid family home

A vile pervert was caught with a horrific cache of images depicting the sexual abuse of young girls after cops raided the family home.

David Bennett, 57, was discovered with 25 video clips of youngsters being molested on his computer at a house in Ferguslie Park, Paisley.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard cops armed with information about the illegal possession of indecent images swooped on the address on August 12 last year.

Procurator fiscal depute David McDonald said: “Police attended at the address and showed the occupants the warrant.

“A female said, ‘You have been here before and you are not going to find anything’.”

“A systematic search was carried out and a black tower PC unit was seized.”

The court heard the PC was analysed by cyber crime experts, who discovered the presence of illegal images of young children.

The prosecutor added: “Officers received a cyber crime report and returned to the address on August 15.

“They entered and the accused Bennett said, ‘Sorry, I feel ashamed’. He added, ‘I know why you are here. It is my computer.’”

He was taken to Greenock Police Station where he again confirmed he was the owner of the PC, and he told officers: “I don’t know why I did it.”

He appeared in the dock before Sheriff Colin Pettigrew where he pleaded guilty to a charge of having indecent images of children in his possession, between April 7 and August 12, last year.

Analysis of his computer revealed there were 25 short video clips, depicting the sexual abuse of girls aged between ten and 13.

A total of 11 images were classified as category A – the worst level of abuse, with 14 at category B.

Sheriff Colin Pettigrew told Bennett: “It is important to adjourn until the court has all competent disposals available.”

He placed Bennett on the Sex Offenders’ Register and released him on bail with special conditions protecting children and restricting his use of the internet.

He will discover his fate when he appears for sentencing on June 25.