Paedophile who filmed himself abusing girl aged just 8 is arrested at airport flying back to Thailand

Ian Heddle was arrested at Edinburgh Airport last February as he was attempting to fly back to Asia, where he had been working as a crane operator.

The 61-year old paedophile, originally from Dunfermline, had recorded videos of himself sexually assaulting a young girl in Thailand.

Police received intelligence that email and MeWe accounts linked to the 61-year-old had viewed and uploaded child abuse material to the internet. When interviewed, Heddle told officers they would find thousands of images and videos on his hard drives and that they were categorised into folders. His electronic devices were later examined and found to contain 272,936 indecent images of children alongside 4,001 videos.

Three videos discovered on his iPhone 12 showed Heddle abusing a young child while she slept and carrying out sexual acts in her presence. His facial features were not identifiable in the video clips, however, his hands were visible and showed him wearing a distinctive thin wedding band.

Last September during a second police interview, Heddle identified himself as the person abusing the child.

Last month, at the High Court in Glasgow, Heddle admitted sexually assaulting the child, who was believed to be aged around eight, between September and October in 2019. He pleaded guilty to a further two charges of possessing and making indecent images of children between August 2019 and February 2023.

This week he was given an extended six-year sentence with four years in custody. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

Katrina Parkes, Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offending, said: “British nationals who sexually abuse children abroad will face justice here. Ian Heddle is a predatory individual who poses a danger to young children.

“Where legislation allows us to prosecute those who abuse children, we will use every power available to ensure offenders are identified and held accountable. We will continue to work with specialist police, international partners, and cybercrime teams to track down and prosecute those who target children.”

Detective Inspector Adrian Ure of National Child Abuse Investigations Unit added: “We understand how distressing this has been for the girl and her family. We hope that the knowledge that he has now pleaded guilty will at least provide some comfort to them.

"Police Scotland is committed to protecting children and were able to pursue Heddle under legislation which protects children anywhere in the world from sexual abuse by British nationals.

“We will continue to relentlessly pursue, and proactively investigate, individuals who carry out these heinous crimes.”