‘Naive’ Arbroath paedophile jailed for Snapchat breach

An Angus paedophile who broke a strict court order by using Snapchat has been jailed.

Christopher Sloan pled guilty to breaching the Sexual Harm Prevention Order just a fortnight after it was imposed by Forfar Sheriff Court.

He appeared from custody and admitted using the social media app – which deletes communication history automatically – to chat with someone a court had ordered him not to contact just days earlier.

Sloan was previously placed on the sex offenders register after being caught with 14 hours of depraved child abuse footage.

For the breaches, the 29-year-old, of Strathairlie Avenue in Arbroath, was sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Sexual harm prevention order

Sloan previously appeared from custody and admitted breaching special bail conditions on September 13 which had only been imposed three days earlier.

He also admitted breaching the terms of the prevention order which he had been furnished with on September 4.

That order prohibits Sloan from deleting or concealing any internet usage.

However, his installation and use of Snapchat, which automatically deletes chat logs, amounted to flouting these stringent rules.

Fiscal depute Sam Craib said: “It seems that the accused, while subject to the orders, has contacted the named party via the app Snapchat.

“He engaged in conversation, on one occasion just shy of half an hour.”

Naivety

Sloan’s solicitor Billy Rennie said: “There wasn’t anything nefarious about his contact with that individual – there weren’t any threats.

“He did know in his mind. There had been a misunderstanding.

“There has been an assessment of his capacity previously.

“He accepts there’s a risk of prison today.”

Mr Rennie said: “In some respects the nature of the offences, serious though they are, are perhaps not the worst.

“There seems to be an element of naivety – it’s all a bit naive by him.”

Backdating the sentence to September 16, Sheriff Mark Thorley told Sloan: “There is no alternative but the imposition of a custodial sentence.”

Forfeiture of Sloan’s Samsung mobile phone was also granted by the court.

Perverted offending

In 2022, Sloan pled guilty to possessing sick child abuse material six months after police raided his Arbroath home.

Officers uncovered hundreds of accessible images of some of the most depraved types of child sexual abuse, as well as multiple hours of accessible film.

Police had gained intelligence ahead of the raid that one category A and one category B child abuse image was uploaded online using an email address connected with Sloan’s Facebook account.

For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.