Student facing jail over porn blackmail plot

Brilliant student Glen Wilson blackmailed children into making hardcore sex films for him after grooming them across a number of social media sites.

He threatened to expose his victims and even used a countdown clock to terrify his young female victims that their identities were about to be revealed publicly.

At Perth Sheriff Court today (Wednesday), Wilson’s bid to be freed on bail was rejected and he was remanded in custody for the preparation of a clinical psychologist’s report.

Sheriff Gillian Wade told him: “It is very likely, if not inevitable, that a custodial sentence of a significant period will follow and it is appropriate for this report to be prepared in the custodial setting.”

Privately educated Wilson persuaded victims as young as 12 to send him explicit images and films which he then offered to share online with other paedophiles.

He forced one girl to film herself on Skype while he set up the social media site to let another mystery user watch her.

Wilson initially pretended to be a similar age to his victims but in less than a year he sent 450 messages threatening to expose victims across the United Kingdom.

Sheriff Gillian Wade remanded Wilson in custody and expressed concern that his case had not been prosecuted at High Court level.

Wilson, who lives with his parents at Woodlands, Longforgan, previously admitted a catalogue of revenge porn extortion and child pornography distribution charges at Perth Sheriff Court.

The court was told that Wilson, who used numerous aliases on sites including Snapchat, Kick, Instagram, Skype and Twitter, admitted a total of 23 charges between September 2015 and June 2016.

He initially faced a total of 49 charges - on an indictment running to 10pages - but the Crown accepted a plea to a lesser number of charges to avoid his victims having to come to court.

A major national investigation was launched after one of his victims reported what he had been doing to Childline, while others confessed to parents.

Fiscal depute John Malpass told the court that Wilson found girls aged between 12 and 15 who were willing to start chatting with him on social media sites despite him being a stranger.

He said Wilson would then persuade the girls to send pictures of themselves in various states of undress. He then sent them back a screenshot with their contacts and told them he would send the picture of them to their friends and family if they did not comply with his requests.

Mr Malpass said the girls were scared of being exposed to family and complied with Wilson’s increasingly hardcore video requests including violating themselves with household objects.

“The accused gave one girl an instruction to masturbate in her school uniform and use a toothbrush to anally penetrate herself.

“She stated he was making her feel suicidal but he reminded her of his threat and continued to pressure her into sending further videos,” Mr Malpass said.

Wilson, who attended the High School of Dundee and lives in a seven-bedroom mansion which was recently on the market for £1.25 million, sat with his head in his hands as the offences were narrated in court.

Mr Malpass said Wilson had told victims: “You have two options. You either do what I ask or I send. Block me, delete me, report me, tell your parents - do any of these things and I press the send button.

“Everyone you know will see everything and your friends and family will think of you as a slut.”

As he “directed” one victim using the pseudonym Alex Moore, he told her to give her name and age and say: “I’m Alex’s little girl.”

He told another to comply and said: “I don’t want to ruin your life, but I will if you make me.”

Mr Malpass said a search of the devices at Wilson’s home showed he had made videos available on Skype for other paedophiles and had sent 450 threatening messages to victims.

The 18-year-old targeted children from as far afield as London, Wales, Sheffield, Derby, Edinburgh and Glasgow. He admitted carrying out sextortion offences against three 12-year-olds, two 13-year-olds, two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old girl.

He admitted two charges of having child porn involving youngsters from three to eight years old and Sheriff Gillian Wade told him those alone would be enough to attract a custodial sentence - before the other 21 charges were taken into account.

Wilson’s details have been added to the Sex Offenders Register.