Man uploaded photo of schoolgirl into AI and circulated fake naked image in encrypted chat

A man who uploaded an image of a schoolgirl into AI and circulated a fake naked image of her on the internet has been warned that he faces a jail term.

Scott Sheldon, 36, sent the fake picture of the girl to users of an anonymous chat service.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard the child sex abuse image was classified by police as category C.

Prosecutor Rachel Wallace said that in October last year, police received information about a social media account of Sheldon’s.

A search warrant was obtained for his home in Grangemouth and the property was raided by officers.

A tablet computer was seized, and 34 child sex abuse images and one video were found on it.

Ms Wallace said the material featured boys and girls aged approximately ten to 15. All were categorised as B and C on the standard scale of seriousness for child sexual abuse images.

Some of the images were found on a Telegram social media app, which was installed on the tablet.

Police found a chat between Mr Sheldon and an artificial intelligence bot on the Telegram app, which generates nude pictures from images of real people.

Ms Wallace said: “Mr Sheldon used this program to generate 12 indecent pseudo-images of a female child.”

This child was identified as a 14-year-old girl – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – who was known to Sheldon.

On October 14, 2025, one of the images of the child – which police assessed as a Category C – was distributed between Sheldon and other users of an app called AnonChat.

Ms Wallace said: “Mr Sheldon made no reply to his arrest or caution and charge and made no comment in an interview by police officers other than to confirm that the tablet belonged to him.”

On Tuesday, Sheldon pleaded guilty to downloading and distributing child sex abuse images.

Solicitor Mike Lowrie, defending, said: “Clearly the court will require reports.”

Sheriff Euan Gosney deferred sentence until September 23 for a social enquiry report and an assessment of Sheldon’s suitability for a restriction of liberty order – a possible alternative to a jail sentence.

Last year, the UK government said it would ban so-called “nudification” apps as part of efforts to tackle misogyny online.

New laws, announced on in December, will make it illegal to create and supply AI tools letting users edit images to seemingly remove someone’s clothing.

The new offences would build on existing rules around sexually explicit deepfakes and intimate image abuse, the government said.