Scotland Court Remands Alan MacPherson Over 2 Million Abuse Images
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 20
Scotland Court Remands Alan MacPherson Over 2 Million Abuse Images
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 20
Summary
Alan MacPherson, 83, was remanded in custody after pleading guilty at Falkirk Sheriff Court to downloading, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material over 14 years.
More than 2 million images were found across nine devices seized in a 2025 raid, with 805,000 formally identified as abuse material and nearly 1.4 million left ungraded on one device alone.
Police traced MacPherson after his IP address was linked to sharing multiple Category A images with an undercover officer on an anonymous messaging app, leading to an early-morning search of his home.
Sheriff Craig Harris placed him on the sex offenders register and ordered pre-sentence reports, saying the scale, duration and seriousness of the offences made custody necessary before a 8 September hearing.
Prosecutors said the hoard may be the largest child sexual abuse image collection ever seized by Police Scotland, with officers overwhelmed by the volume of material to examine.