A convicted Dundee sex offender who searched the Internet for “extremely graphic” images of toddlers being abused has avoided being jailed for life.
Despicable Brian Clark,45, was handed a three and half year prison sentence by judge Lady Stacey at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday.
Lady Stacey also ordered that the pervert be supervised by the authorities for three and a half years following his release from jail.
Clark, of Dundee, was sent to the high court after being convicted of possessing child pornography at the city’s sheriff court in December 2015.
Police raided his house last July and found 15 hours of video and almost 450 images of children aged between one to 15 being abused on his laptop.
He purchased the computer just two weeks after an Internet ban for a previous sex offence had expired.
Sheriff George Way remitted the case to the high court for sentencing after hearing how Clark had previous convictions for lewd and libidinous behaviour.
He was released from prison and was on licence which expired on May 18 2015.
Sheriff Way thought that Clark’s criminal record meant there could be a possibility that he was eligible for the imposition of an Order for Lifelong Restriction.
Such an order means that people who receive it are only released back into the community once the parole board consider that they no longer pose a threat to public safety.
However, on Friday, Lady Stacey said she was satisfied that Clark’s offending could be dealt with by the imposition of an extended sentence.
She said: “I am satisfied from the reports placed before me that the matter can be dealt with without the imposition of an OLR.”
At original proceedings in Dundee Sheriff Court, depute fiscal Nicola Gillespie said police had gone to his home after receiving a tip off that indecent images of children had been downloaded there.
She said: “They found the accused and his partner at the address and a number of items including an Acer laptop and a USB device were seized.”
Miss Gillespie said a total of 268 videos were found on the equipment, which many of the images being category A, which contains the most serious and graphic sexual activities.
Clark, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to the offences which which were committed between May 31 and June 29 in Dundee.
After Sheriff Way sent the matter to the high court, specially trained social workers assessed Clark to see if he met the criteria for an OLR.
The court heard on Friday that social workers concluded that Clark didn’t need an OLR and that he could be rehabilitated.
Defence advocate Susan Duff told the court: “This is a matter which could be dealt with by the imposition of an extended sentence.
“He could take the courses which prisons have available in which he can address his issues.
“He is someone who can become a functioning member of society without having the deviant interests which he has had.”
Lady Stacey then imposed the extended sentence on Clark.
