A father has been found guilty of downloading child abuse material for more than a decade after trying to blame the crime on his dead son.
A jury rejected Ewan McLeod’s claim his tragic son Douglas had been the one searching for and keeping the illicit haul of sexual abuse images.
Perth Sheriff Court was told images were found on computer equipment within the family home after police received information someone had been accessing illegal material.
The court was told a device containing illegal material was found in the room that had been used by McLeod’s son prior to him dying in his late 20s.
McLeod denied being responsible for the stash of images and told the jury the only person who could have been to blame was his late son.
Built computer but denied being expert
The court heard McLeod deny he was a computer expert who would have been able to hide the images or delete any trace of them.
However, he admitted working in IT and that he had been able to put the computer at the centre of the case together from parts salvaged from other devices.
McLeod, 67, of Main Street, Glenfarg, was found guilty of downloading child abuse material at his home between March 2 2007 and December 2 2017.
Sheriff William Wood told him: “The jury has found you guilty of the charge.
“Due to the nature of the charge it is not appropriate for me to deal with it now.”
The sheriff deferred sentence for the preparation of reports and added McLeod’s details to the sex offenders register and granted him bail.
