JOHN KILPATRICK FROM LARBERT SENTENCED FOR CHILD SEX OFFENCES IN STIRLING

In a disturbing case that has sent shockwaves through the community, John Kilpatrick, a 24-year-old resident of Larbert, has been sentenced to prison for a series of heinous crimes involving the exploitation of young girls. The offences, which spanned over a two-year period, included the manipulation and coercion of victims as young as ten years old into sending explicit images, as well as the distribution of indecent material involving minors.

According to court reports, Kilpatrick employed a variety of deceitful tactics to lure his victims. He posed as a model scout, using online aliases such as “Pedobear,” to establish false trust and manipulate girls into sending nude photographs. His victim count reached 19 across the United Kingdom, with five girls under the age of 13 and eight others under 16. The predator also utilized a “friend finder” application, which displayed profiles of females, to identify potential targets. He would then demand explicit images and threaten to release them publicly unless his victims complied with his demands.

Some of the girls sent him photographs of themselves dressed in school uniforms, highlighting the disturbing nature of his exploitation. On one particularly alarming occasion, Kilpatrick impersonated a student at a victim’s school and described violent sexual acts he claimed he would carry out on her the following day if she refused to send more explicit images. His malicious activities extended to uploading naked images of a 17-year-old girl onto a “revenge porn” website, and he also threatened to upload other images to a Twitter account he created called “Whores of Kik.”

In a further act of intimidation, when a 15-year-old girl refused to comply with his demands, Kilpatrick threatened her via Twitter. He also went as far as impersonating his own mother to tell another victim that he was dead, demonstrating the extent of his manipulative tactics. He falsely claimed to work for BMA Models, a reputed London-based modelling agency, and solicited figure shots and increasingly provocative images, including naked photographs.

The court was informed that Kilpatrick’s youngest victim was just ten years old, while the oldest was 25. During the investigation, police acted on intelligence and raided his home in Larbert, Stirlingshire, in April 2016. They seized two mobile phones and an iPad, which forensic analysis later revealed contained thousands of chat logs with female children and young women across various social media platforms. Kilpatrick admitted to threatening victims when he was angry or upset with the world.

He faced multiple charges, including obtaining or attempting to obtain images and private information through fraud and extortion, distributing indecent images of a child, encouraging minors to view such images, and inciting sexual activity among children. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to 24 charges in total.

After considering background reports and a risk assessment, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio sentenced Kilpatrick to 44 months in prison. Additionally, he was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. The sheriff emphasized the severity of the crimes, stating, “Some of those involved appear to have moved on with their lives, some were deeply affected. You had no idea how vulnerable any of them might have been at the time. Every single one of the charges you have admitted is sufficiently serious to merit a jail sentence.”

Throughout the sentencing, Kilpatrick showed no emotion as he was led away to serve his sentence, leaving a community shaken by the revelations of his predatory behavior in Larbert and beyond.