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Man avoids custody over haul of child images on ‘encrypted cloud storage’

Daniel McGladrigan.
Daniel McGladrigan.

An Aberdeen man has avoided custody after being caught with more than 600 indecent images of children and nine hours of sickening footage hidden on encrypted files.

Police carried out an intelligence-led raid on Daniel McGladrigan’s Aberdeen home in October last year after learning IP addresses linked to him had been used to upload indecent images to online cloud-based storage.

Officers seized and examined a number of devices, including three phones and two PlayStations and a computer tower, and found hundreds of illegal files.

A total of 139 category A images, the most serious, were found, along with 82 category B and 422 category C. Meanwhile 34 category A videos were found, nine category B and 26 category C.

The video had a total play length of more than nine hours and 36 minutes.

McGladrigan, 20, of Mill Court, Woodside, previously pled guilty to taking, permitting to be taken or making indecent images or pseudo-images of children between September 19 2017 and March 4 2020.

He also admitted possessing indecent images or pseudo-images of children between September 19 2017 and October 19 2020.

Sentence was deferred for reports but McGladrigan has now appeared back in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced.

Offences started weeks after his 17th birthday

Defence agent Stuart Beveridge said his client had co-operated fully with police from the outset.

He added the starting date of the offences was just weeks after McGladrigan’s 17th birthday.

Sheriff Graham Buchanan said he took into account McGladrigan’s age and his lack of record, and ordered him to be supervised for two years and complete 120 hours of unpaid work.

He also ordered him to complete the Aberdeenshire Sex Offenders programme and made him subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act for two years.

Fiscal depute Helen Treharne previously told the court: “On October 19 2020, a warrant was executed by police officers at an address in Woodside, Aberdeen, and the accused was found inside where the warrant was read to him.

“The accused spontaneously said that his mobile phone on the living room dining room contained indecent images of children.

“He further stated that the images were contained in a ‘lockbox’ application on the phone.”

A lockbox app allows users to hide, lock and password protect digital files on their computer or devices.

Multiple devices seized

During a search of McGladrigan’s property seized a further two phones, two PlayStation games consoles and a computer tower belonging to the 20-year-old.

He was arrested and charged with two counts of taking or making indecent photographs of children and of being in possession of hundreds of images.

More than nine hours of indecent video footage was also found on three mobile devices belonging to McGladrigan.

Ms Treharne added that following his arrest, McGladrigan gave a no comment interview and made no reply to caution after the charges had been read out.