An Aberdeen sex offender has been jailed after he was caught with indecent images of children for the second time.
Alasdair Rae, 22, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted having of scores of images and videos of children on his iPhone when police searched his home.
Some of the children featured in the indecent material were as young as six.
Rae, a registered sex offender, was handed a community payback order in 2021 after he was found with more than 30 hours of sick sexual videos featuring children between the ages of two and 15.
Alasdair Rae had indecent content on iPhone
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that on July 12 last year police were alerted by the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit that Rae was in possession of indecent images and videos.
A Snapchat account linked to him had uploaded content to the internet, she said.
On August 9, police attended Rae’s home with a warrant and a search of the property was carried out.
“A number of devices were found, which the accused confirmed all belonged to him,” Ms Simpson added.
“Cybercrime officers attended and carried out preview examinations on the devices found at the locus that indicated the accused had indecent images and videos of children on his iPhone.”
Officers found 12 Category A images and seven Category A videos, 30 Category B images and eight Category B videos and 57 Category C images and two Category C videos on his phone.
The images and videos featured both boys and girls aged between six and 14 years old.
The videos found had a total playtime of five hours and 23 minutes.
Rae pleaded guilty to one charge of downloading indecent images of children and a second charge of being in possession of indecent images.
‘Attitude’ has been poor
Defence solicitor David Sutherland told the court that his client has previous convictions for similar offences dating back to June 2021.
He added that he accepted that there were concerns highlighted about his client’s “lack of candour” regarding his offences within the social work report.
“The options today are that either Mr Rae goes to prison or he’s given a further chance to carry out community-based work,” Mr Sutherland said.
“It would be required to be a lengthy order but hopefully that would lead to a reduction in further offending.”
But Sheriff Graham Buchanan noted Rae’s previous record for offending and the fact that his “attitude” towards his existing order “has been poor”.
“I take the view that the only appropriate disposal is a period of imprisonment,” he added.
Sheriff Buchanan sentenced Rae, of Farquhar Road, Aberdeen, to eight months in prison.
He also placed Rae on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
