Business partners at Hillington firm face jail over indecent images
29-year-old Iain Kidd and 31-year-old Fillip Hannisdal, who co-own Dragonbyte Technologies, were caught after police received a tip off
Two business partners of a Hillington software company are facing jail for downloading indecent images of children.
29-year-old Iain Kidd and 31-year-old Fillip Hannisdal were caught when police received information that vile pictures of children were being distributed from the house they shared.
A search warrant was granted for the property in Hillington where both men lived with Kidd’s parents, and computer equipment and storage devices were taken away for examination.
A forensic search by the cyber experts revealed sick Kidd and Hannisdal each had a haul of hundreds of illegal pictures of children and images of beastiality.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Kidd admitted charges of downloading and possessing indecent images of children between July 2005 and June 2017, and a charge of possessing extreme pornographic images between April 2007 and August 2017.
Hannisdal, from Belshill, admitted committing the same three charges between September 2014 and August 2017.
The court heard the pair are business partners for an internet business and at the time both lived at the address with Kidd’s parents and partner.
They co-own Dragonbyte Technologies Ltd, a software business, described on their website as "The leading provider of vBulletin software addons since 2010".
Procurator fiscal depute Derek Buchanan said: “In August 2017 Police Scotland received credible and reliable evidence that indecent images of children were being downloaded and distributed from the accused’s home address.”
A search of seized equipment revealed Kidd had almost 984 still images and 496 moving, and 7689 pictures of extreme pornography.
While Hannisdal had 170 still pictures, 50 moving and 163 images which the court heard depicted sexual activity involving people and animals.
Both men had vile pictures and videos of children ranging from category A - the most serious - to C.
When they were cautioned and charged by police neither made a reply and both gave no comment interviews.
Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports and bail continued.
Sheriff John McCormick told them: “I will continue bail meantime but you should be aware that the number and categories are such that a custodial sentence is a very distinct possibility and you should prepare yourself for that."