Ian Heddle was arrested at Edinburgh Airport on February 19, 2023, as he was attempting to fly back to Asia, where he had been working as a crane operator.

Police received intelligence that email and MeWe accounts linked to the 61-year-old had viewed and uploaded child abuse material to the internet.

When interviewed, Heddle told officers they would find thousands of images and videos on his hard drives and that they were categorised into folders. His electronic devices were later examined and found to contain 272,936 indecent images of children alongside 4,001 videos.

Three videos discovered on his iPhone 12 showed Heddle abusing a young child while she slept and carrying out sexual acts in her presence. On June 11, at the High Court in Glasgow, Heddle admitted sexually assaulting the child (believed to be aged around eight) between September and October in 2019.

He pleaded guilty to a further two charges of possessing and making indecent images of children between August 2019 and February 2023.

On July 30, he was given an extended six-year sentence with four years in custody. He has also been placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offending, Katrina Parkes said: “British nationals who sexually abuse children abroad will face justice here. Ian Heddle is a predatory individual who poses a danger to young children.

“Where legislation allows us to prosecute those who abuse children, we will use every power available to ensure offenders are identified and held accountable. We will continue to work with specialist police, international partners, and cybercrime teams to track down and prosecute those who target children.

“I would urge anyone with information or knowledge of offending of this kind to come forward and report it as soon as they can.”