Former Labour councillor Ewan Dillon admits downloading child abuse images

A former Labour councillor caught with photos on his phone of girls aged between five to ten being raped has been given 270 hours of unpaid work.

Ewan Dillon, 21, who represented Labour for Bridge of Allan and Dunblane on Stirling Council at the time, resigned in March this year.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told that officers at Police Scotland’s online child sexual abuse and exploitation unit received information in May 2022 – the same month that Dillon was elected, at the age of 19 – that there was a device at his home in Stirling, which contained indecent images of children.

Officers raided the property on September 29 the same year, and found the phone in his bedroom.

Dillon, who was present in the house together with his dad, told police he had viewed indecent images of children on it, but claimed he had never saved any.

An examination revealed 58 child abuse images on the handset, 15 of them of the most serious category.

Dillon, who switched to being an independent councillor days after the raid, told police: “All I want to say on the record is that it’s an accident.

“It’s a link, something has been downloaded or sent to me, and I’ve deleted it.”

But he added: “The fact of the matter is that it’s been on my phone at one point.”

Dillon pleaded guilty to downloading child abuse images between October 18, 2021 and September 29, 2022.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony sentenced him to 270 hours of unpaid work, and placed him on social work supervision for two years. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Prior to quitting the Labour Party group on Stirling Council, Dillon had been vice-convener of the community planning and regeneration committee and the children and young people committee.

Helen Nisbet, procurator discal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “Ewan Dillon pleaded guilty to and has now been sentenced for possessing horrendous images of child abuse.

“These are not victimless crimes. They perpetuate the humiliation and devastation suffered by child victims of sexual abuse and are an affront to society.

“We will always treat these crimes seriously.”