A former police officer has been found guilty of possessing and distributing indecent images of children and could now face imprisonment.
Shamed Rikki Henderson, who once enjoyed a trusted position as an officer with the Army Cadet Force, was also convicted of taking a photograph of a woman’s private parts without her consent.
A jury found the 25-year-old guilty by majority of the two offences after more than two hours of deliberations.
They also found Henderson unanimously guilty of taking the picture of a woman without her clothes on in March last year.
The verdicts were delivered at the end of a three-day trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
It is understood Henderson resigned from the police on Friday. When the allegations came to light, the Army suspended him from the cadets and confirmed last night proceedings to discharge him have begun.
During evidence this week, it was revealed that sexual images of children as young as eight had been found on Henderson’s smartphone in June last year.
Using special forensic software, police discovered nine indecent images in a ‘sent’ folder of the messaging service Whatsapp.
Seven were assessed at category C, the lowest in severity, while one was category B.
One of the images was category A, and was described by police mobile phone examiner Neil Adam in court yesterday as depicting a child involved in “sadistic sexual activity”.
However, the jury unanimously found the charge that Henderson had made the indecent images not proven.
In addition, two other charges relating to allegations of sexual assaults at the Army Cadet Force training camp in Boddam, near Peterhead, were found to be not proven by a majority.
Henderson, of Bridge Street in Strichen, had denied all the charges.
Sentencing has now been deferred until a later date while criminal justice social work reports are prepared.
Sheriff William Summers said a custodial sentence could be imposed due to the “very serious” nature of the offences.
A spokesman for the Army confirmed yesterday that Henderson had been suspended from the cadet force in June last year.
He said: “We can confirm that he is a member of the 2nd Highlanders Battalion, Army Cadet Force, in Fraserburgh.
“As soon as the accusations came to light he was suspended, on June 1 2017, and has had no contact with cadets since.
“Following the conviction, we are looking to administratively discharge him from the Army Cadet Force.”