A man from Shetland who possessed indecent pictures and videos of children has been placed under supervision for over two years and ordered to do unpaid work.
Alvar Foster, of Market Street, Lerwick, had admitted taking or permitting to be taken 88 images and 24 videos on a laptop between September 9 and 12, 2016.
Lerwick Sheriff Court previously heard that police uncovered the images while carrying out a drugs search of the 23-year-old’s flat.
The computer contained pictures in all three categories of indecent images including some of category A, the most serious classification.
Defence solicitor Tommy Allan said the period of offending was “relatively short”, adding that a number of the videos and images had been deleted.
He added that the offences happened while Foster “went down a path” where he quickly realised he did not want to be.
He told the court that while he did not want to be “flippant” about the case, he said it was perhaps an instance where Foster “needs to get out of his bedroom and go out and engage with the rest of the world” more.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said that while the offence was “abhorrent”, sentencing guidelines showed that it was technically a small number of images – many of which were of a low category.
The sheriff placed Foster under supervision for two years and six months, during which time he will have to adhere to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act.
He was also given 200 hours of unpaid work, while his laptop was also forfeited.
