Former Scottish soldier groomed children as young as ten through fake social media profiles

A former Scottish soldier stationed in Yorkshire groomed children as young as ten and pretended to be a female in multiple fake social media profiles.

Austen Tobias Fleming, of Stirling Road, Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, admitted 83 cyber-enabled child sexual abuse and exploitation offences at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was based at Dishforth Airfield, near Thirsk, when the Online Child Abuse Team (OCAT) acted on intelligence that he had attempted to extort sexual imagery from a child.

Following analysis, investigators uncovered a prolific and calculated pattern of abuse, with victims located across Scotland, Wales, and England, including Kent, London, Surrey, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Nottingham, Cheshire, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Humberside, Durham, and North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Police established that Fleming would set up multiple fake social media profiles, including female ones, and was grooming children to send indecent images and videos of themselves.

The youngest of his victims was ten years old, and the oldest was 17.

Fleming would then covertly record the interactions and use the material to blackmail his victims for more explicit content.

When the children refused, he issued threats to share the images with their families or offered small payments and gift vouchers as further coercion.

One of his victims was so traumatised by the threats that he attempted to take his own life. Others were left in emotional distress, including instances of crying and shaking during interviews with safeguarding officers.

Fleming’s abuse is believed to have started in December 2020 and continued until his second arrest in December 2024.

He was charged with a wide range of serious offences, including:

25 counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity (non-penetrative)
23 counts of causing a child to transmit indecent images of themselves
Five counts of inciting a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity
One count of obtaining the sexual services of a child by payment
Five counts of blackmail
Two counts of causing a child to watch sexual activity
One count of making an indecent image of a child (Category A)
1 count of distributing an indecent image (Category A)
11 counts of making indecent images (Category B)
Nine counts of making indecent images (Category C)

Fleming was sentenced to 24 years in prison at Leeds Crown Court.

Detective constable Tom Sutcliffe, who led the investigation, said the case required “large-scale coordination” across multiple police forces and social services to trace victims and ensure appropriate safeguarding.

“This has been a large-scale investigation involving constabularies in Scotland, England and Wales. Their support has been crucial in obtaining accounts from the many victims of Fleming”, he said.

“It has also required collaborative safeguarding work involving social services across the UK to ensure the young people involved receive the support that they need.

“Fleming is clearly a depraved offender who poses a significant danger to young people especially. He now faces a long time in prison and will be robustly monitored by the authorities for the rest of his life.”