Former firefighter is jailed on multiple charges of rape and sexual assault after he paid adults in the Philippines to abuse girls and broadcast it live for viewing from Scotland.
- Gary Campbell, 59, admitted to 13 counts of sexual abuse of children under 13
- In a legal first, prosecutors were able to link online accounts through payments
A former firefighter who directed sexual attacks on vulnerable children while he watched has been jailed for 12 years.
Pedophile Gary Campbell paid for adults in the Philippines to abuse girls as young as four while recording it in “real time” over the Internet from his home in Scotland.
The 59-year-old admitted to 13 charges related to the sexual abuse of children under the age of 13, including the rape of two girls aged eight and nine.
In a legal first, prosecutors were able to prove Campbell’s direct involvement in the abuse from more than 6,000 miles away after cybercrime investigators traced online payments he made to foreign accounts. It was said that he paid as little as £10 for some of the attacks.
An international investigation helped show that the pedophile was just as responsible for the attacks as the perpetrators in the Philippines, known in the law as ‘art and part’ guilt. He was convicted under legislation that protects children anywhere in the world from sexual abuse by British citizens.
Gary Campbell, 59, admitted to 13 counts related to the sexual abuse of children under the age of 13, including the rape of two girls aged eight and nine.
Campbell was jailed in Edinburgh High Court on Friday after pleading guilty to child sexual abuse charges last month.
Jailing Campbell in Edinburgh High Court yesterday, Justice Lord Beckett said: “He used the advantage of the comparative wealth of our society to pay people corrupt children.”
He was also granted a three-year sentence extension, during which he will be subject to close supervision. He will be on the sex offender registry indefinitely.
Campbell, who also worked as a water treatment operator for Scottish Water, pleaded guilty to the charges in Edinburgh High Court last month.
The court heard that police raided his home in May 2021 after receiving information that he had made payments 13 times to a woman in the Philippines who was later arrested for producing, possessing and distributing indecent images of children and for live-streaming abuse. childish. .
Associate attorney Margaret Barron said how videos and chat logs retrieved from her electronic equipment indicated that Campbell was watching the children being attacked in “real time” and directing the attacks.
Several devices seized from his home were found to contain child sexual abuse material.
The crimes were committed between June 2012 and August 2014 while Campbell lived in the town of Lochinver, Sutherland. He later moved to Perth.
Defense attorney Shahid Latif said Campbell was a first-time offender who had seen a psychotherapist and undertook work to deal with the factors that led to the crime.
He told the court: “There is no doubt that he is completely embarrassed and disgusted by his behaviour.”
Speaking after the case, Fraser Gibson, the High Court’s sex crimes prosecuting attorney, said the girls assaulted and raped were “vulnerable little girls suffering appalling abuse and exploitation”.
Detective Chief Inspector Michael Smith of Public Protection’s Specialized Crime Division described Campbell’s offense as “absolutely appalling.”
A spokesperson for NSPCC Scotland said: “This is a deeply disturbing case that shows the devastating damage that child sexual abusers can cause online.”
The charity also called on companies to address how their platforms contribute to such abuse.
