A man who downloaded videos of child rape was told he did not have enough material to warrant a prison sentence.
At Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday, Sheriff Alastair Brown told David Alexander Young he would not go to jail.
Sheriff Brown had previously told Young, 49, of Baffin Street, Dundee, he did not want him to be labelled a ‘beast’ after he downloaded child sexual abuse videos of between 15 to 20 minutes duration.
Young had pleaded guilty to possessing as well as taking or permitting to be taken indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at his home address between December 15 2012 and August 6 2013.
He also pleaded guilty to distributing such images on December 19 2012.
Young had fewer than 10 child abuse videos and Sheriff Brown said this made him a “wholly exceptional case”.
He said: “Cases of this sort normally result in prison sentences.
“The making of this material where it involves penetration is the rape of children. It cannot be put more accurately than that.
“For that reason, people who seek out and enjoy the watching of this material have to be dealt with very seriously.”
He said, however, there are degrees of severity and sheriffs have guidance about quantities of material which classifies fewer than 100 images as ‘small’.
Sheriff Brown said, even allowing for the fact Young’s material was in video format, the case was unusual as it was far less than he had seen in other cases.
The court heard Young had seen his GP and was judged by social workers to be at low risk of reoffending Sheriff Brown said: “Without in any way seeking to diminish the serious nature of this material, I am satisfied the recommendation is correct and you will not be going to prison.”
He warned Young if he ever accessed such material again, he would be dealt with very seriously.
Young was placed on a community payback order requiring him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work within nine months, with a nine-month supervision period.