LOGAN CHAPMAN OF FIFE ADMITS TO INDECENT IMAGES AND CLAIMS HE WAS RESEARCHING TO CATCH PAEDOPHILES
In July 2021, Logan Chapman was handed a supervision order and instructed to register as a sex offender.In June 2021, the court heard how the 21-year-old Fife man, caught with thousands of child abuse images, insisted he was engaging in 'research' to identify and catch other paedophiles.
Chapman was found to have a computer containing the disturbing images in a room shared with a young boy.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was told that he had been using a Tor server to browse the internet anonymously.
Among the 1,926 still images recovered from his device, 217 were classified as Category A, depicting the rape or torture of young children, the most severe category.
The police also found one video.
Search terms such as 'Lolita' had been used, and the images were stored on a 'system unit,' the tower part of a computer.
Fiscal depute Claire Bremner explained that Chapman broke down when questioned about his activities.
She stated, 'The locus was the home address of the accused, where he lived with his parents and three brothers.
At 7am, officers of Police Scotland executed a search warrant and were let in by the accused’s father.' During questioning, Chapman claimed he had a mobile phone and a PC in his bedroom, providing PIN codes for both devices.
A system unit containing child sexual abuse images was retrieved from his shared bedroom.
He confessed that he was attracted to young females and young masculine-presenting males.
He also stated he used a Tor browser to access chatrooms discussing politics and claimed he was trying to research in order to report images to authorities.
'He then broke down and said he knew it was wrong and needed help,' Bremner added.
Regarding the images, she noted that 217 Category A, 327 Category B, and 1,218 Category C images were inaccessible to him, but 164 Category C images could be viewed.
Chapman, from Allan Park, Hill of Beath, admitted to taking or making indecent images of children at an address in Cowdenbeath between February 1, 2018, and June 17 of the previous year.
The court deferred sentencing for reports, and Chapman was placed on the sex offenders register.
