A Sheriff has sent a man who filmed himself sexually assaulting a screaming baby to the High Court for sentence – because she does not have the powers to deal with the “risk” he poses.
Ryan Simpson had already been warned to expect a lengthy jail sentence after admitting the attack.
But when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov decided to send the 31-year-old’s case to the High Court.
Sheriff courts cannot impose jail terms of more than five years.
Sheriff Pasportnikov said: “While I am satisfied that this court has enough powers to deal with the custodial element of the sentence I am not satisfied the information that will be provided in the psychological report will allow me to address the risk Mr Simpson poses to the public.
“I’m content it cannot be adequately addressed by this court and it should be remitted to the High Court for sentence.”
Simpson, who is currently on remand at Porterfield Prison in Inverness, filmed himself abusing the young child before sending the depraved video to his boyfriend.
He even boasted he would have gone further and “done as he wanted” with the baby had he not been short of time or scared of getting caught.
The footage of Simpson was discovered by police during a search of his boyfriend Scott Ayres’s, home in Northampton, where the couple had lived together previously.
Officers seized mobile phones and tablets and found a category A video – at the highest end of the scale – which showed Simpson kissing the “distressed” crying baby.
Police then traced him in Moray and seized two mobile phones, one of which contained two videos of children being sexually abused.
Evidence was also uncovered which showed Simpson had been sharing the clips with friends in a WhatsApp chat group.
One video showed a baby between six months and a year old being abused, again ranked at category A.
Saved on the other phone was footage of a boy aged between four and six being sexually assaulted and other category B images.
Sentence had previously been deferred at Elgin Sheriff Court for psychological reports.
Simpson admitted taking indecent images of a baby, distributing those images, and possessing indecent images of children.
He also admitted sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13.
Ayres was arrested in August and charged with “aiding and abetting in the sexual touching of a child under the age of 13” among other offences.