December 2018

Melrose man who downloaded 1000s of indecent images is jailed

A 62-year-old man convicted of downloading thousands of indecent images of children has been jailed for 18 months.

Police found more than 6,000 photographs of children being abused by adults during a raid on Alan Keen’s home in Chiefswood Road, Melrose, on August 7.

He pleaded guilty to taking, or permitting to be taken, indecent images of children between July 12 and August 7.

Keen was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

The prison sentence was back-dated to August 8.

November 2018

Melrose man had 6,092 indecent images of children

A Melrose man has appeared in court and admitted downloading thousands of indecent images of children.

Alan Keen was caught with more than 6,000 pictures of children being abused by adults when police raided his home earlier this year.

Keen, 62, had stored the images on three computer devices and had attempted to delete the evidence prior to the police arriving.

Fiscal depute Peter Motion told Edinburgh Sheriff Court police officers executed a warrant at Keen’s home following intelligence received by them.

They attended his home at Dingleton Apartments at the town’s Chiefswood Road at around 8.30am on August 7 this year and Keen answered the door himself.

Officers searched the home and seized a laptop and two USB sticks which were subsequently forensically analysed.

It was found Keen had attempted to delete all the images but all were recovered by a specialist police IT team.

Officers discovered a total of 6,092 images of children as young as five years old being abused.

The images consisted of two at Category A, the worst end of the spectrum, 24 at Category B and a further 6066 at Category C

During the police interview Keen admitted the devices were his and that he had been looking at pornography “but didn’t realise they had been children”.

On Tuesday (November 27) solicitor Mark Harrower, defending, said Keen, who appeared in the dock from custody, was a married man but had been living apart from his wife at the time of the offending.

Mr Harrower added Keen now “accepted this was a deliberate act” on his part and that he had an analogous previous conviction.

Sheriff Weir deferred sentence for reports to next month and remanded Keen in custody.

Keen was also placed on the sex offenders register for a period still to be decided.

Keen pleaded guilty to taking or permitting to be taken indecent images of children at his home address between July 12 and August 7 this year.

He also admitted a charge of possessing indecent images at his home between the same dates.

November 2018

Pervert that abused young girl jailed

A man who sexually abused two young girls in the Scottish Borders more than 40 years ago has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Nigel Hartdegen, 67, of Hawick, committed the offences between 1973 and 1976.

He molested one girl from the age of six and abused another girl from the age of 10. The offences took place at an address in Hawick.

In addition to his jail term he was placed on the sex offenders’ register.

At the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lady Carmichael told Hartdegen: “The jury convicted you of sex offences towards two young girls in the 70s over a significant period.”

One of Hartdegen’s victims told of how he exposed himself to her in his garden shed.

He also pulled her dress up and, on another visit, rubbed himself up against her.

Hartdegen denied the offences, but was found guilty of three charges of lewd, indecent libidinous practices and behaviour against the two girls.

He was acquitted of three further charges of indecent assault, indecent exposure and indecent behaviour.

Hartdegen had 2017 convictions for indecent exposure and sexual assault, but on that occasion received a non-custodial sentence.

Pensioner convicted of 1970s indecency

A pensioner has been found guilty of indecent practices against young girls more than 40 years ago.

Nigel Hartdegen, 66, formerly of Hawick, had denied committing the offences between 1973 and 1976.

He molested one girl from the age of six at an address in his home town and abused another girl from the age of 10.

He was remanded in custody at the High Court in Edinburgh and placed on the sex offenders register. He will be sentenced later this month.

One woman told the court how as a little girl she had visited the house in Hawick which had a shed in the back garden.

She was asked to take a cup of tea out to the shed and Hartdegen shut the door and exposed himself to her.

He also pulled her dress up and, on another visit, rubbed himself up against her.

The woman said she did not reveal the abuse that was perpetrated against her at the time as she was frightened and scared and was told no-one would believe her.

She later told police: “He always warned me not to tell anybody as nobody would believe me.

“I actually thought nobody is going to believe me. I am just a little girl.”

Hartdegen had denied the offences but was found guilty of three charges of lewd, indecent libidinous practices and behaviour against the two girls.

He was acquitted of three further charges of indecent assault, indecent exposure and indecent behaviour.

Following the jury’s verdict, advocate depute David Nicolson revealed Hartdegen had previous convictions for indecent exposure and sexual assault.

Defence counsel Tim Niven-Smith said a prison term was “inevitable” following the convictions, but added a background report would have to be prepared on Hartdegen before sentencing as he had never previously served a jail sentence.

He asked for his bail to be continued ahead of sentencing.

The judge, Lady Carmichael, told Hartdegen: “The position has changed significantly with the finding of the jury and you will be remanded in custody.”

He is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

October 2018

Scots hooker who slept with 14-year-old boy and took his virginity in Florida hotel room back in UK after being deported by immigration

A Scottish hooker who bedded a boy of 14 in the US has been booted out of the country.

Sarah McGill, 28, was previously hit with a deportation order but arrested as she tried to fly out as she had breached the terms of her probation.

She was slung in Glades County Detention Centre in Moore Haven, Florida — but immigration officials last night revealed she was finally deported on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman said: “Sarah Louise McGill, a citizen of the UK, was removed to her home country.

“She came to our attention after she was convicted of sexual battery with a minor in August.”

McGill, from Galashiels, Selkirkshire, was convicted in August of romping with the teenager at a Courtyard Marriott hotel in Orlando.

He had found her profile online and paid her £339 — later claiming it was the first time he had sex.

McGill — who touted for clients as ‘Sophia Belle’ — was busted with another punter after the boy’s dad called police who raided the hotel room.
She confessed to cops who arrested her in April that “one thing led to another” after she met the boy.

She added: “I wish that I never took him upstairs.

“I feel like such an idiot.”

McGill admitted a charge of lewd or lascivious assault, but got probation instead of 15 years in prison by cutting a deal with prosecutors.

But days later, on September 1, she was nabbed at Orlando International as she tried to leave.

September 2018

Galashiels man jailed for subjecting young sisters to repeated sex abuse

A man has been put behind bars for four years for subjecting two young sisters to repeated sexual abuse almost three decades ago.

Matthew Walley, now 46, was just a teenager when he began abusing the girls, aged four and six at the time, and he carried on preying on them for the following five years, the High Court in Glasgow heard.

Those lewd and libidinous offences were carried out on a regular basis in the Borders between January 1987 and April 1992.

Walley, of Winston Road in Galashiels, continues to deny being responsible for any sexual abuse despite being convicted after trial.

Sentencing Walley, judge Lord Stephen Woolman told him: “Your victims were two young girls.

“This was persistent and shameful sexual abuse, and you continue to deny it.

“Your conduct has continued to have a major impact on their lives.”

Walley abused one of his victims from the age of six until she was 11.

The woman, now 37, is a mother but has found it difficult to leave her child in the care of others for fear of what might happen, the court heard.

Eventually, after remaining silent for decades, she plucked up the courage to speak to others about what had happened to her as a child and reported it to the police.

Walley also abused the woman’s younger sister when she was aged between four and seven. The court heard that Walley told the older girl that he loved her during the abuse, and she said that made her feel “special” at the time.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard told the jury that the episodes of abuse with the older girl appeared to become “almost a matter of routine”.

The advocate depute said that Walley had carried out sex acts on the girls for his own sexual gratification.

Walley, a former taxi driver, admitted in evidence during his trial that he had asked one of the girls “an inappropriate question”, but he denied responsibility for any sexual abuse. 

Ms Forrest urged Lord Woolman to consider imposing a non-custodial sentence on Walley, but he told her client the only appropriate punishment for his crimes was a prison term, adding: “You violated their childhood.”

Walley showed no emotion as he was led away from the courtroom to begin his sentence.