Scottish businessman caught with 4,000 child abuse images at Florida airport

31 January 2025 , 16:12

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Scottish businessman caught with 4,000 child abuse images at Florida airport

Steven Paul McInally was stopped by border guards at Orlando International Airport when he arrived for a holiday in Florida. He had almost 4,000 images of child abuse on his phone

The owner of a children’s soft play centre was jailed for 25 years in an American federal prison, after being found with child abuse images and videos on his iPhone.

Steven Paul McInally was stopped by border guards at Orlando International Airport when he arrived for a holiday in Florida in August 2023. The officers ordered the 36-year-old businessman to unlock his phone and were shocked to find more than 3,900 images and 70 videos of children. It is understood that some of the child sexual abuse material found on his phone included images of children that had been taken during a sleepover party they had attended at his home. 

McInally reportedly owned the Go Wild soft play unit in the Bridgeton area of Glasgow, which played host to hundreds of children every week, before his arrest. US District Judge Wendy D Berger sentenced Steven Paul McInally to 25 years in federal prison for transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material after pleading guilty on November 1, last year.

Police Scotland were seen searching the Go Wild soft play in Glasgow not long after McInally’s arrest. It is understood detectives also carried out searches at his home. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "Following an investigation, a 36-year-old man was subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with offences under the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009."

A spokesperson for the US Attorneys Office said in a statement: "This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims."

Grace Cooper