CHRISTOPHER THOMSON FROM DUNDEE SENTENCED AFTER ONLINE PREDATION IN TEXAS

A man from Dundee, identified as Christopher Thomson, has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison after a disturbing case involving online predatory behavior that targeted a young girl in Texas. The case, which spanned over six years, was marred by significant delays caused by procedural issues involving the UK Government, leading to a lengthy legal process that ultimately resulted in a relatively short jail term.

On Thursday, Sheriff Alastair Carmichael sentenced Thomson to 23 months in prison. During the sentencing, Sheriff Carmichael expressed his frustration over the delays, stating that the UK Government’s actions “unlawfully” contributed to the protracted timeline. He explained that although Thomson could have faced a life sentence in a Texas prison, the court was compelled to reduce his sentence due to the extensive six-year period it took to bring the case to conclusion. The sheriff further remarked, “The narrative describes the reasons for the delay in this case and some of that was due to two years spent judicially reviewing the unlawful actions of the UK Government.”

Thomson, aged 27 at the time of sentencing, was identified as a gamer who appeared to live predominantly in a virtual world. His criminal activities came to light through an FBI investigation, which uncovered his manipulation and control over a 14-year-old girl in Texas. The FBI’s probe revealed that Thomson had been controlling her life minute-by-minute, hacking into her online accounts to monitor her activities from across the Atlantic. He coerced her into sending a sexually explicit video of herself, which he watched and recorded. The video was stored in a file titled: ‘Man, I’m so smart,’ highlighting his sense of twisted pride in his actions.

In September 2014, Thomson admitted to forcing the young girl to send him the explicit video. He also confessed to secretly accessing her Skype account, threatening to share the video if she did not comply, and urging her to self-harm and commit suicide. The court heard that Thomson’s actions represented a disturbing form of online control, with the sheriff emphasizing the severity of his misconduct, describing it as “online transatlantic control by somebody aged 20 at the time of someone who was a 13 or 14 year old child.”

Evidence presented by the prosecution included the installation of a Skype password hacking application by Thomson, as well as his online searches for methods to secretly access other people’s accounts. Charmaine Gilmartin, a fiscal depute, detailed these findings during the trial.

Dr. Laurie Matthew OBE, founder of the Dundee-based charity Eighteen And Under, condemned the case as “absolutely appalling.” She expressed her dismay over the delays caused by the UK Government, stating, “It’s an absolute disgrace that the government caused this problem and it would have been so much more like justice if he had been sent to the USA to serve a much more appropriate sentence.”