Teenager jailed for 'worst' type of offences against children

A teenager who committed the 'worst' type of offences against children has been jailed for five years.

Alan Gray,19, was sent to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh after a Greenock based sheriff concluded that he couldn't impose a sentence appropriate to the level of offending.

The pervert had pleaded guilty to offences at Greenock Sheriff Court last month to offences in which he fantasised about kidnapping, raping and murdering babies.

Gray, who lived in the town's Caithness Road, also accessed almost 20,000 images of young children and infants being abused. Before sending him to the high court, Sheriff Derek Hamilton told Gray: "The narration of the images in this case is the worst I have ever heard."

Last Thursday, judge Nigel Morrison QC was told that specially trained medical staff had interviewed Gray and had concluded that he didn't appreciate the seriousness of his offending.

Court appointed social workers also found that Gray was at high risk of reoffending.

This prompted judge Morrison to postpone sentencing Gray to today.

Judge Morrison told Gray that he wanted time to consider whether he should impose an extended sentence on him.

This would mean that Gray would be given a fixed prison sentence but would be supervised by the authorities following his release from custody.

But judge Morrison also said he wanted time to consider whether he should call for a report to see whether Gray should be given an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

This order would mean that Gray could spend the rest of his life in prison. He would only be released from custody if the parole board considered he no longer posed a threat to public safety.

On Monday, judge Morrison ruled that he decided it was appropriate for him to impose an extended sentence.

After serving five years, Gray will be supervised by the authorities for three years following his release from prison.

Gray pleaded guilty to charges in which he admitted making indecent photographs of children at his home between January 12 2016 and June 1 2016.

He also admitted to using a "public electronic communications network" to send to "persons unknown" messages of a "grossly offensive" nature.

In these messages, Gray expressed "a desire" to "kidnap, sexually abuse, rape and kill babies".

Gray also pleaded guilty to a charge in which between May 5 2016 and May 6 2016, he sent an offensive message to a person known to prosecutors as "Back Again."

He threatened "Back Again" by claiming he was going to post a series of "fictitious indecent messages" on the Internet.

The messages - which were faked - were going to show a conversation which Gray said took place between the two of them.

On that occasion, the court heard how Gray organised videos of sadistic sexual assaults on babies into folders on his lap top computer.

He exchanged messages with another person in which they discussed the most extreme sexual violence against babies.

Gray - who began accessing Internet pornography at the age of 13 - sent a message on the Kik messenger app which read: "I'd kill 25 newborns a night. No mercy."

He added: "They're just there for us to abuse."

Police who seized Gray's computer found he had 19,884 images made up of 16,120 still pictures and 3,764 videos.

These included 1864 pictures and 2254 moving images of category A abuse, the worst level.

The age range of the children who were abused was less than a year to 12-years-old.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton told Gray: "My concern is that the risk of you reoffending is high. There is a significant risk factor and for that reason I am going to remit you to the high court for sentencing."

On Thursday, the court heard how Gray was at a high risk of re-offending. A court appointed psychologist who had interviewed Gray stated he had "minimised" his offending during an assessment.

Last week, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson urged the court to consider imposing an extended sentence on his client.

He added: "There's no getting away from the seriousness of his offending. However, the robust structure required to manage Mr Gray could be found in the form of an extended sentence."