MARK THOMPSON FROM CARDENDEN CAUGHT WITH CHILD ABUSE IMAGES IN FIFE AND KIRKCALDY

In August 2021, Sheriff James Williamson imposed a series of strict penalties on Mark Thompson, a resident of Cardenden, after a detailed investigation into his possession of indecent images of children. The sheriff ordered Thompson to be placed under supervision for a period of two years and mandated that he register as a sex offender for the same duration. Additionally, Thompson was required to complete 160 hours of unpaid community service within the following 12 months as part of his sentencing.

The case against Thompson gained significant attention in July 2021 when it was revealed that a social media mistake led to his arrest. Authorities uncovered that Thompson had been viewing and downloading child abuse images for over a decade, dating back to the early days of the internet. His possession of these vile images was discovered after he posted one on Facebook, which ultimately led to his identification and arrest.

Thompson owned a computer tower and a hard drive, both of which contained hundreds of indecent images. Despite some images being deleted over time, forensic experts were able to confirm that he had downloaded nearly 800 such images. The severity of the material was underscored by the fact that some of the images were classified as Category A, representing the most severe level of abuse. During the court proceedings at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, it was revealed that a Category C image had been uploaded to Facebook in July 2019, with investigations tracing the IP address back to Thompson.

On January 6, police officers executed a search warrant at Thompson’s residence. When he answered the door, he allowed officers inside without resistance. During the search, authorities recovered a system unit and a hard drive. An initial forensic review of the system unit uncovered a user account registered to Thompson, along with files in the download folder, although the specific contents of some files had been deleted. The investigation revealed that Thompson had stored a large number of voyeuristic images of females, including children as young as ten years old, which were considered highly indicative of his activities.

The external hard drive contained images downloaded via Limewire, a file-sharing service. Following his arrest, Thompson admitted to officers that he had been viewing images of children since the early days of the internet. However, he claimed that he did not derive sexual pleasure from the images and simply liked looking at them, asserting that he had forgotten about their existence. His search terms included phrases like “nudist family” and “naked boys,” which he used to locate the illicit material.

The evidence showed that Thompson’s computer contained two Category A images, 17 Category B images, and 709 Category C images. The hard drive held an image and four videos classified as Category A, 16 images and a video at Category B, and 38 images at Category C. Although Thompson had deleted many of the images, 78 pictures and one video remained accessible on his devices.

Thompson, aged 60 and residing on Main Street in Cardenden, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home and elsewhere, with the offenses spanning from June 22, 2009, to December 15, 2019. He also admitted to downloading these images during the same period. The court deferred sentencing to allow for background reports, and Thompson was placed on the Sex Offenders Register as part of the legal proceedings.