PERTH MAN STEVEN GIBSON EXPOSED FOR PREDATORY ONLINE BEHAVIOR IN SCOTLAND
In August 2021, a disturbing case emerged involving Steven Gibson, a resident of Perth, who engaged in a heinous online campaign targeting young children through social media platforms.Gibson, a supermarket manager at Tesco, used Facebook to search for local minors, specifically girls near his residence, with the intent of luring them into a trap.
Gibson adopted a deceptive persona, posing as a child himself, to attract young girls to a Snapchat group he had created.
The group was initially presented as a safe space set up by a schoolfriend, which lured the children into a false sense of security.
Once inside, Gibson began sending inappropriate and graphic images, including cartoon characters from the TV show Family Guy, to the 12 and 13-year-old members of the group.
The children, unaware of his true intentions, reported the situation to the authorities after Gibson escalated his offensive behavior by sending explicit images, including a naked penis.
The police investigation revealed that Gibson was not known personally to the children but that they were all students attending the same school in the Dundee area.
The children had been part of a group chat called 'Keep It 12A,' which Gibson was believed to have created initially.
Within this chat, he posted an image of a Family Guy character engaged in masturbation, accompanied by the provocative question, 'who's pumping?' When one girl expressed her discomfort and told Gibson to stop, he responded with inappropriate messages, including a suggestive remark, 'Lol.
You wanting pumped later?
Let’s get pumping.
Want to try this later?' He continued his offensive conduct by sending a cartoon image depicting sexual activity and a photograph of a penis with the message, 'It does get bigger if you was playing with it.' Gibson, who still resides with his partner of ten years at Mailer Way in Perth, did not cease his inappropriate advances.
He asked one of the girls to have sex with him and persisted when she did not respond.
Further, he sent a photoshopped image of a female with a male genitalia over her face, which prompted the children to contact the police to report his disturbing month-long campaign of exploitation.
On being brought before Perth Sheriff Court, Gibson, aged 50, admitted to five charges of sending sexual communications to children via Snapchat between 27 May and 30 June 2019.
The court proceedings revealed that police traced his activity through his Snapchat username, and during the search of his family home, officers found screenshots of Facebook pages belonging to young females in the Dundee, Angus, and Perth areas.
Several of these pages contained Gibson’s Snapchat details.
During the hearing, Fiscal depute Rebecca Kynaston described Gibson’s actions as predatory and manipulative.
Sheriff Gillian Wade granted Gibson bail but warned him that he could face imprisonment when he returns to court next month, emphasizing the seriousness of his offenses and the potential consequences of his actions.
