Connor Sangster

Connor Sangster, a 29-year-old resident of Arbroath in Angus, Scotland, faced his third conviction for child sexual exploitation offences at Dundee Sheriff Court. This latest incident follows previous convictions in 2022 and 2023 for possessing vast quantities of child abuse material, demonstrating a persistent pattern of vile behaviour despite prior judicial interventions.

In November 2024, police intelligence indicated that indecent images of children were being uploaded online, directly linked to Sangster's family home address. Officers from Police Scotland raided the property on 9 December 2024 at 8.50am. Sangster's mother answered the door, with the accused and his father present inside. A thorough search led to the seizure of an iPhone from Sangster's bedroom. He provided the PIN and passwords, enabling officers to uncover 56 picture files depicting child sexual exploitation and abuse. Three of these images were classified as the most explicit category, showing girls aged between four and eight years old. The earliest file dated back to December 2023, though all had been deleted from the device by the time of the search.

Sangster, who was already subject to a community payback order for similar prior offending, appeared in court the day after the raid and has remained on bail since. He pleaded guilty to charges of taking, making, and possessing indecent images of children between 2023 and 2024. Solicitor Billy Rennie informed the court that his client is engaging with social workers as part of his ongoing sentence. Fiscal depute Stephanie Paterson detailed the evidence during the hearing, emphasising the direct link to Sangster's address and the nature of the material recovered.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentencing until December 2025 for the preparation of background reports and ordered Sangster to be placed on the sex offenders register once more. Bail conditions were continued in the interim. This marks Sangster's third such conviction: in 2022, he was sentenced for possessing 665 hours of child abuse material; in May 2023, as a then-kitchen porter, he received another sentence for 34 hours of similar content. Outside court, the convicted paedophile concealed his face with a snood, sunglasses, and cap, a tactic he has employed at previous hearings, as reported by The Courier (source).