Eight men face child porn charges

The men made an appearance at the High Court in Edinburgh

Eight men facing charges linked to the making, possessing, or distribution of child porn have appeared in court.

One charge alleges a serious sexual assault on a named boy who was only three months old at the time.

The alleged offences are said to have been committed at addresses in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Glasgow and Dundee.

After a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Uist fixed a trial date for March next year.

Appearing were Neil Strachan, 40, James Rennie, 37, Ross Webber, 26, Colin Slaven, 23, Craig Boath, 24, Neil Campbell, 45, John Milligan, 40, and John Murphy, 43.

Mr Strachan, of Edinburgh, is accused of possessing indecent photos of children, taking pictures or permitting them to be taken and distributing them.

Mr Slaven, of Edinburgh, faces similar charges. The two men are also accused of assaulting an 18-month-old boy, and indecency with two other youngsters who were about four and six.

They are also accused of destroying a lap-top computer and pretending it had been stolen in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

US experts

Mr Rennie, also from Edinburgh, faces child porn charges and is accused of carrying out indecent acts with a boy, only three months old at the time, assaulting a 12-year-old, and electronic attempts to avoid detection while accessing or distributing images.

Mr Webber, of North Berwick, East Lothian, Mr Campbell, from Glasgow, and Mr Boath, from Dundee, face similar child porn charges. So do Mr Milligan and Mr Murphy, from Glasgow.

Mr Strachan, Mr Rennie, Mr Webber, Mr Boath, Mr Campbell, Mr Milligan and Mr Murphy are accused of acting together and with others to distribute or show "indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs" by swapping images, one said to show Mr Strachan assaulting an 18-month-old boy.

Mr Strachan, Mr Rennie, Mr Webber, Mr Boath, Mr Campbell and Mr Milligan also deny conspiring together and with others to meet and participate in the commission of sexual offences against children.

The allegations listed in the conspiracy charge include logging on to websites, at least one believed to be based in the US, using a web camera to watch sexual abuse and listening over the telephone while sex acts were being committed.

The court heard that in preparing their case the Crown had needed to bring in experts from the US to examine photographs.