A Stirlingshire man was hounded with shouts of “beast” as he was put on the sex offenders register for downloading hundreds of child abuse images.
Andrew Strachan, 52, of Drymen, visited websites with names such as “Teen & PreTeen Girls JailBait Pictures” and “cute little girls”.
He was told by a sheriff his actions directly contributed to the abuse of children.
Stirling Sheriff Court how Strachan downloaded the images over a period of more than four years.
A written narrative put before the court – but not read aloud – stated: “At around 8.15am on May 19 2020 officers executed a search warrant at the home address of the accused.
“He was found within, along with his wife. The accused was cooperative and directed police to the location of a number of electronic devices and provided passwords for each.”
On an iMac computer were found 124 inaccessible category B images and two accessible category B images.
“The images show girls aged between two and 14 being subjected to sexualised posing and non-penetrative sexual activity with adults.”
On a hard drive, officers found 111 inaccessible category C images and 14 inaccessible category C videos.
The narrative stated: “These depict girls aged between 8 and 14 engaging in sexualised posing.”
In a second one they found 113 inaccessible category C images and 14 inaccessible category C video files.
The narrative noted “The examiners could not determine when the images had been downloaded but data showed relevant website visits to sites with the obviously underage material.”
The last relevant website visit was September 8 2016.
‘Beast’ shouts
Strachan’s defence agent said he had no previous convictions and had taken proactive steps to address his offending.
She said: “I think that’s quite a big thing for him, in that he recognises there’s a problem and has sought help.
“It shows genuine insight on his behalf and he’s been assessed as low risk.”
Strachan admitted taking or making indecent images of children at his home address between February 2016 and May 2020.
Sheriff Paul Ralph told him: “Those who access material of this sort bear responsibility for abuse by creating demand for such material.”
He placed him on a two-year supervision order and ordered he carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
In addition he was placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Strachan hid his face as he left court to shouts of “beast” from members of the public.
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