A former Scottish football referee who secretly filmed his neighbour's naked teenage daughter has been jailed. Ian Hart, 37, was sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday, 6 November, to a five-year extended sentence, with two years and nine months behind bars.

The offences

Hart preyed on the girl, aged 13 to 14, at a property in South Lanarkshire between December 2024 and June 2025. He pleaded guilty to threatening or abusive behaviour, two charges of voyeurism, and taking or permitting to be taken indecent images of children.

How he was caught

Hart had first come to police attention in 2022, when a female witness found images of clothed unknown women on his phone. In 2025 the same woman grew concerned that he was looking in a teenage girl's wardrobe while viewing a house. When his phone was checked that June, it held images of his neighbour's daughter naked while getting changed in her bedroom. Police arrested him at his workplace in Blantyre, Lanarkshire.

What police found

Prosecutor Danielle McGuinness said nine still and moving images of the neighbour's child had been identified; the child had no knowledge the images were being taken. Images of the adult woman witness in the shower were also recovered, along with a further 65 voyeuristic images of fully clothed women taken from behind.

Banned from refereeing

Hart had been an assistant referee in matches involving Partick Thistle, Dundee United, Dundee FC, Ayr United and Dunfermline Athletic. The Scottish Football Association confirmed he was removed from active duties after his crimes came to light on 24 October 2026 and has been delisted. Sheriff Andrew McIntyre also placed him on the sex offenders register indefinitely and imposed a five-year non-harassment order against the adult woman witness.