Declan Stoddart jailed for targeting schoolgirl while serving sentence for child offences

Declan Stoddart, 23, of Southhouse, Edinburgh, has been jailed for 160 days after sending sexual images and messages to a schoolgirl. The sentence runs consecutively to a 24-month prison term imposed earlier in 2026 for offences involving other children.

Stoddart contacted the girl on TikTok before moving their conversations to WhatsApp. Her mother discovered the messages and contacted police. He admitted causing a child to look at a sexual image and making sexual comments to her between 9 and 16 January 2025.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Sheriff Colm Dempsey imposed the 160-day sentence, placed Stoddart on the sex offenders register for seven years and made a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

In the earlier case, Stoddart groomed two boys aged 11 and 12 while playing Xbox games with them online.

He sent them explicit images and videos, threatened self-harm if they told anyone, and also communicated with adults posing as children. Police found eight indecent images of children on his phone. He was jailed for those offences in February 2026.