Paedo army cadet sergeant is caged
Jail term handed out for shocking child abuse
A Strathaven army cadet sergeant was jailed for 21 months after being exposed as a child abuser who filmed himself carrying out vile sex acts with a young boy.
Depraved Craig Bannatyne, 22, was snared after a 15-yearold boy found his mobile phone taped to the wall of a gents toilet in the cadet hall.
It was later discovered that the pervert had been trying to secretly record young recruits at the urinals by setting the iPhone to record video images.
A probe was launched and on January 30 last year, officers raided Bannatyne’s Motherwell home where they seized a laptop from his bedroom containing 21 indecent images of children.
The vile child sex abuse pictures were category A level – the most extreme – and showed adults sexually assaulting children as young as six months.
Following further forensic investigation of his computer, police also discovered sickening footage of Bannatyne forcing a 12-year-old boy to perform sex acts on him.
Shamed Bannatyne broke down during a police interview and admitted to cops the laptop was his and that indecent images of children were there.
He pled guilty to assaulting the boy and possession of illegal images of children. He went on to plead guilty to bombarding his young victim with text messages between June 18, 2014 and July 19, 2015.
The court heard last month that a total of 4234 messages were discovered between the accused and the victim.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday, Bannatyne’s defence lawyer said his client came from a good, supportive family and understood the seriousness of the charges.
He said: “The offending started when he was from 18 years of age and the most serious charge was committed when he was 20.
“It’s a progression when you see this certain type of behaviour. These are very serious charges, the issue is whether he receives a substantial custodial sentence or a community payback order.”
Sheriff Ray Small said because of the sexual assault it was difficult for him to consider dealing with Bannatyne any other way than custody.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Small said: “Because of the gravity of these charges the only appropriate disposal is a custodial sentence.
“Due to the seriousness of these offences I need to ensure the public is protected therefore I will pass an extended sentence of 33 months.”
The sheriff imposed a 21-month jail term and told Bannatyne he will be supervised for a further 12 months upon his release.
Bannatyne was also placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years and told he should never work with children again.
Sheriff Small added: “Because the offences involved children I will recommend to the Scottish Ministers that you are unsuitable to work with children.”
Commenting on the sentencing, a spokesman for children’s charity NSPCC Scotland said: “Bannatyne subjected one child to horrific abuse and we hope that victim is now receiving all possible support to recover from his ordeal.
“Sexual crimes against children are offences of the utmost seriousness and have a devastating effect on the victims which can last into adulthood.
“Downloading and making indecent images of children are also extremely serious crimes with every one of these images capturing a crime scene involving a real child victim.”