Ian Heddle: Former Scottish footballer who filmed sex abuse of young girl in Thailand, jailed for four years

Paedophile Ian Heddle, 61, previously played for Scottish teams St Johnstone and Dunfermline Athletic throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Heddle, from Dunfermline, was charged after more than 270,000 indecent images of children were found in his possession, and further charged with sexual assault of a child in Thailand following a deeper police investigation.

He was arrested at Edinburgh Airport in February 2023 as he attempted to fly back to Asia. He pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow in June.

The court heard that Heddle had viewed and downloaded indecent images of children while staying at a property in Scotland on a visit from Thailand. Prosecutor Tracey Brown said: "He was interviewed and spoke freely. He admitted to the possession of indecent images of children. He stated that there would be thousands of images and videos in his hard drive and that they were categorised into folders.”

Three videos discovered on his iPhone 12 showed Heddle abusing a young child - aged around eight - while she slept and carrying out sexual acts in her presence. The clips were date stamped for dates in 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 he was the one abusing the girl. Police Scotland said the National Crime Agency (NCA) liaised with Royal Thai Police to ensure the safeguarding of the child in Thailand and obtain a witness statement.

Duncan Burrage, international liaison officer with the NCA, said: "Offenders like Ian Heddle think that they won't get caught by travelling to the other side of the world to conduct child abuse. However, the NCA has the capabilities to identify and disrupt them. "Borders are not a barrier; we work closely with our partners in the UK and overseas to ensure that Britons committing child abuse offences abroad are prosecuted and vulnerable children are safeguarded, wherever they are in the world." At the High Court in Glasgow last month, Heddle admitted sexually assaulting the child between September and October 2019.

He pleaded guilty to a further two charges of possessing and making indecent images of children between August 2019 and February 2023. Heddle was handed a six-year extended sentence on Tuesday, with four years in custody and two years on licence 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 behaviour was deplorable with no thought to the young child he sexually assaulted or the victims depicted in the images and videos he was viewing. His sentencing sends a clear message that anyone found guilty of these offences will be brought to justice."