A nursery worker who bragged of abusing children and sold harrowing indecent images to perverts around the world has been jailed for 27 months.
Countless unknowing Dundee parents entrusted their youngsters into the care of Danny Kilburn.
Looking for friends, the 20-year-old turned to online gaming, then chatrooms and finally pictures and videos of abuse in a twisted bid to find “social acceptance”.
He began distributing and selling the images he downloaded while working at nurseries across the city, claiming he had abused youngsters at his places of work to earn extra cach with his clients.
All the while he claimed to have been sickened by his own activities, self-harming as he came to terms with the fact that he “could not stop”.
Kilburn was finally unmasked as a paedophile last year, while working at Oranges and Lemons in Dundee Technology Park.
And yesterday his shame was complete as he was handcuffed and led to the cells beneath Perth Sheriff Court to begin his time behind bars.
He will spend a further 18 months on licence following his release in order to “protect the public”.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Kilburn: “I can only begin to imagine the distress and horrific abuse that is being suffered by the children in these images, particularly those who feature in those assessed at levels 3, 4 and 5, which are the most serious.
“Persons such as yourself who download and distribute these images give encouragement to the individuals who have actually been involved in carrying out the abuse.”
Horrified mums and dads first learned of Kilburn’s activities after receiving letters from the nursery telling them that a worker had been suspended pending a police investigation.
Officers recovered laptops, memory sticks, mobile phones and hard disks all crammed with indecent images and videos from his former home in Invergowrie.
They found 11,617 images and 340 videos, thousands of which were at the highest levels, meaning they featured the very worst examples of abuse and exploitation.
No evidence was found of Kilburn having actually abused any children himself and the court was told his claims had simply been bravado.
His family were forced to flee their home after the revelation as they became targets for abuse and threats.
Police in Fife continue to make regular patrols past the new family home near Glenrothes in order to protect Kilburn, now 22, and his parents from harm.
He admitted making indecent photographs of children at an address in Invergowrie between September 3 2011 and October 9 last year during an appearance at Perth in October. He also admitted distributing the images between the same dates.
Solicitor Stephanie Ross described her client as a “vulnerable and lonely man” with little social skills.
“He does not appear to be someone who has an avid interest in indecent images of children,” she told the court.
“These offences were committed not for sexual gratification but in a bid to gain social acceptance.”