Court hears Argyll mother used daughters to make sexual images

A CHEATING 23-year- old Argyll mother who used her young girls to create lewd photographs to send to her lover in England pleaded guilty to three charges in Campbeltown Sheriff Court.

The mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons to keep her children from being identified, appeared in court last Wednesday. She faced three charges of using her daughters to create indecent images and exposing them to sexual acts. Her not guilty plea to two other charges was accepted.

One girl was just three months old when the mum started creating and sending the images.

Procurator Fiscal Eoin McGinty told the court that the accused was in a relationship for four years with a man with whom she had two daughters.

In October 2013, the partner of the accused became aware that she was sending text messages to a man named ‘Daniel’ in the north of England.

After a break-up in January 2014, following the accused’s partner finding sexual pictures of Daniel on her mobile, the couple reconciled in June 2014 before breaking up again when talks with Daniel continued.

The pair remained amicable and kept joint custody of their two daughters. The accused often looked after the pair at the father’s home.

On June 26 2014, the dad put the girls to bed after the accused had watched them at his home. The accused had left the house and forgotten to take her laptop.

In a picture folder titled ‘Daniel’, the father was horrified to find sexually indecent photos of his own children.

The police cyber crime unit found a video of a man, believed to be Daniel, videoing himself looking at these images and performing a sexual act, with what the fiscal argued was the clear presumption she sent these images to him for his gratification.

They also found a number of movies from Daniel to the accused, relating to charge five of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

The fiscal summed up the various charges, referring to further pictures of the accused with her daughter in the background, saying the use of her daughters was integral to the sexual excitement she and Daniel were seeking. He added that Daniel awaited trial in England.

Defence solicitor Ruben Murdanaigum pointed to doubts Sheriff Ruth Anderson QC had over the level of gratification the mother had received from the images. He said the position his client held was that Daniel got the gratification from the sent images. He stated that the accused was now aware that her relationship with Daniel was very unhealthy and she had since cut all ties with him, professing sorrow for her actions. He said the children had returned to shared custody in November last year, under agreement with the father, with both wishing to ensure that the children were raised in a good, stable environment. She now had unsupervised access and saw them on a monthly basis.

Sheriff Anderson deferred sentence and granted the accused bail until next month, calling for a criminal justice social work report and reports from the accused’s social worker and community psychiatric nurse.

She also ordered that the accused had no more communication of any kind with Daniel, for the good of herself and her children.