A former Inland Revenue worker from Fife was caught with a sick stash of child abuse material, including children having sex with animals.
First offender Ian Dunbar, 69, who worked for the Inland Revenue for three decades, met like-minded perverts on Twitter and chatted and shared material on another app.
His stockpile of sick images and videos depicted boys and girls aged between three and 12 being raped.
The pensioner, of Queens Court, Dunfermline, previously appeared at the city’s sheriff court to plead guilty to having indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between July 6 2022 and February 22 2023.
Dunbar further admitted distributing or showing indecent photographs of children between February 19 and February 21 last year.
After reports were prepared, he returned to the dock to be sentenced.
Immediate admissions
Solicitor Mark Harrower tendered letters to the court from Dunbar’s counsellor and from the ex-wife he cares for.
He said: “When the police came to his house, he co-operated fully with them.
“He was offered legal advice, which he declined, and gave a full admission.
“He couldn’t have pled guilty any earlier.
“Mr Dunbar has tried to clearly recognise how he became involved in this offending at the age of 69, having led a law-abiding and constructive life.”
Mr Harrower explained that while the possession charge involves a seven-month period, his client’s access to the files was only “sporadic,” adding “he would stop and start.”
He stressed the sick chats when he distributed files came when he was “at his lowest ebb” for just two days.
Mr Harrower also said he believed one of the chats was with an undercover officer.
“Thankfully, it was detected and stopped,” he added.
As well as starting counselling, Dunbar completed a 10-week course run by Stop It Now in Edinburgh.
The solicitor explained prior to Dunbar’s arrest, he had gone four months without any face-to-face contact with another person.
Mr Harrower continued: “He has had a lot of time to reflect on his behaviour.
“He is very angry at himself and ashamed. I would ask the court to accept that that remorse is genuine.
“He resolved that he would make changes.”
Sick pics and chats
Prosecutor Lee-Anne Barclay previously told the court that in February last year police received intelligence that the user of a Twitter account linked to Dunbar was uploading child sexual abuse material to the internet.
Detectives from the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit searched the property and recovered a mobile phone and PC.
Dunbar told police he met like-minded users on Twitter and moved the chat to an app called Telegram, where the distribution of indecent images occurred.
He said videos and images had been sent to him from other users.
Cybercrime analysis revealed 1,158 files containing child sexual abuse material on a hard drive.
The material found ranged from category A – the most graphic kind – to category C, which made up the majority of the stash.
On the mobile phone, 68 abuse files – mostly category A – were found.
A number of “chats” were found on the Telegram app showing an interest in the abuse material.
Sentencing
Sheriff William Gilchrist imposed a three-year supervision order and placed Dunbar on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
He imposed a 9pm to 7am curfew for four months and ordered completion of the Moving Forward: Making Changes programme aimed at rehabilitating sex offenders.
The sheriff also imposed a string of stringent conduct requirements including that Dunbar can only live in approved accommodation and must have no unauthorised contact with under-16s.
He must make any device available for inspection, not delete his search history and use no software which hides internet use.
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