A former football player who recorded videos of himself sexually assaulting a young woman in Thailand has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Pedophile Ian Heddle, 61, was found to have stored 272,936 indecent images of children alongside 4,001 videos after being captured by police.
Heddle was a midfielder for several Scottish clubs in the 1980s and 1990s, including Dunfermline Athletic and St Johnstone.
Katrina Parkes, from Scotland The Procurator Fiscal for Sexual Offenses in the High Courts said: “British citizens who sexually abuse children abroad will face justice here.
“Ian Heddle is a predatory individual who poses a danger to children.”
Heddle, originally from Dunfermline in Fife, was arrested in Edinburgh Airport in February 2023 while trying to fly back to Asia, where he worked as a crane operator.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said police had received information that emails and MeWe accounts linked to Heddle had viewed and sent child abuse material to the internet.
When interviewed, Heddle admitted that officers would find thousands of images and videos on his hard drives and that they were categorized into folders.
Three videos discovered on his iPhone 12 showed Heddle abusing a child – aged around eight – while she slept and performing sexual acts in her presence.
The clips were dated September and October 2019 and were, according to the phone’s GPS, recorded in Changwat Chon Buri, Kingdom of Thailand.
Heddle’s facial features were not identifiable in the videos, however, his hands were visible and showed him wearing a distinctive thin wedding band.
During a second police interview in September 2023, Heddle admitted that he was the one who abused the girl.
Police Scotland said the National Crime Agency (NCA) liaised with the Royal Thai Police to ensure the protection of the child in Thailand and obtain a witness statement.
Duncan Burrage, international liaison officer with the NCA, said: “Offenders like Ian Heddle think they will not be caught traveling to the other side of the world to carry out child abuse.
“However, the NCA has the capacity to identify and disrupt them.
“Borders are not a barrier; we work closely with our partners in the UK and abroad to ensure that Brits who commit child abuse crimes abroad are prosecuted and vulnerable children are protected, wherever they are. that are in the world.”
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In the Superior Court of Glasgow Last month, Heddle admitted to sexually abusing the child between September and October 2019.
He pleaded guilty to two further charges of possessing and making indecent images of children between August 2019 and February 2023.
Heddle received an extended six-year sentence on Tuesday, with four years in prison and two years on license once released back into the community.
He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Detective Inspector Adrian Ure, of Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigations Unit (NCAIU), said: “Heddle’s behavior was deplorable, with no thought given to the child he sexually abused or the victims depicted in the images and videos he I was seeing.
“His sentence sends a clear message that anyone found guilty of these crimes will be brought to justice.”
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