A man has been jailed for possessing what a sheriff described as ”extraordinarily vile” pornography.
Sheriff Richard Davidson told 45-year-old Steven Ryder he had never encountered such extreme material before.
Ryder, of Ogilvie Street, Dundee, had previously admitted downloading 4,176 indecent photographs and 97 minutes of video depicting child abuse and other pornography between February 2000 and March 2011.
He also pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of taking or making indecent photographs of children between June 2002 and April 2011. Much of the material involved children from Eastern Europe.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how Ryder lived alone and had become ”detached from regular society”.
Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair said: ”Numerous laptops and external hard drives were found at Ryder’s flat during a police search. In total there were 4,176 images of children. There were 11 video clips with a total duration of one hour and 37 minutes.
”They were assessed as being between levels one and five on the scale.”
Defending, David Duncan said his client lived a solitary life.
”He felt some form of inability to feel comfortable in human relationships and reverted to a whole other world.
”He’s somebody with a hoarding element. What’s changed since the offences were acknowledged is that he’s re-engaged with his two brothers.”
Sheriff Davidson told Ryder: ”You have downloaded the most extraordinarily vile material I’ve ever had the misfortune to view. Immersing yourself in this material is not normal human behaviour you need professional help.”
He jailed Ryder for 20 months, with an extended sentence of three years, and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.