Andrew McAdam

Introduction

Andrew McAdam is a Scottish man who pleaded guilty to nine charges involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of very young children, including recording and distributing extreme images which were captured while abuse was perpetrated by him and encouraged by him but perpetrated by another . The charges spanned a period of eighteen months, from March 2023 to September 2024 . Sentencing him on 28 October 2026, Lord Scott imposed a cumulo extended sentence of fourteen years — a custodial term of ten years and six months followed by an extension period of three years and six months — dating from 10 September 2026, and made him subject to notification requirements indefinitely .

Background Information

Lord Scott’s sentencing statement describes the offending as a course of “extreme paedophilic conversations which led quickly to the sharing of images and the direct abuse of real children available to you and the other person”, engaged in willingly, knowingly and without any coercion . The abuse was not limited to material McAdam viewed: the charges covered images he recorded and distributed, captured while abuse was perpetrated by him, and while it was encouraged by him but carried out by another person involved in the same network of offending . McAdam first appeared on petition in respect of some of these charges on 9 September 2024, and an early plea under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 was offered at that stage — but it was conditional, and the most serious charges had not yet been brought against him at that point .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted nine charges of child sexual abuse and exploitation; extended sentence.

When Lord Scott came to sentence, he treated all nine charges as part of a single course of conduct and imposed one cumulo sentence covering them all . Setting out the starting points he would have applied if sentencing the counts separately, the court identified six years for charge 4, involving direct sexual abuse, and ten years for charge 6, involving inciting another person to rape a young child . Taking the whole offending together, the judge set a cumulo starting point of a fourteen-year custodial term . He recognised the utilitarian value of the guilty pleas — primarily the saving of court time — as significant mitigation, but reduced the starting point by only approximately 25%, noting that the earlier plea had been conditional and that the most serious charges were not on the table when it was offered . The resulting sentence was a cumulo extended sentence of fourteen years, comprising ten years and six months in custody with a three-and-a-half-year extension period .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The court also made a non-harassment order in relation to the child victim identified in the proceedings as CD, in terms agreed between the Crown and the defence: McAdam must not approach, contact or communicate with CD directly or indirectly, or attempt to do so, for an indeterminate period commencing from sentencing . The indefinite notification requirements attach automatically to the sentence, placing McAdam under the Sex Offences Register regime for life . The published sentencing statement, unusual for its plain description of abuse of “very young children” by a defendant acting “without any coercion”, documents the case in the court’s own words as one of the most serious of its kind to reach sentencing that week .

Current Status

McAdam is serving the custodial term of the extended sentence, which runs from 10 September 2026 . When released, he will spend three years and six months under supervision in the community as the extension part of the sentence, subject to recall if he breaches its conditions . He remains subject to indefinite notification requirements and the indeterminate non-harassment order protecting the child victim . No appeal was reported in the published remarks .

Impact on Their Career/Life

A cumulo fourteen-year extended sentence for nine admitted charges of child sexual abuse and exploitation places McAdam among the most serious offenders processed by Scotland’s courts for online-facilitated child abuse, in a case where the court explicitly found the offending was willing, knowing and uncoerced and extended beyond his own acts to the encouragement of abuse by another perpetrator . The conditional early plea he offered in September 2024 — before the most serious charges were brought — bought him no substantial discount, a fact the judge recorded publicly when limiting his reduction to roughly a quarter of the starting point . His life after custody will run under the extended-sentence supervision regime, lifelong registration, and a permanent non-harassment order, a combination that reflects the court’s assessment of the gravity of what he admitted .

Sources

• “HMA v Andrew McAdam, sentencing remarks of Lord Scott” — Judiciary of Scotland, 28 October 2026: source