A man who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children has been spared jail.
John Todd, of Great Southern Road in Aberdeen, had indecent images of girls aged eight to 15 on six devices – and had also downloaded numerous stories detailing the sexual abuse of children.
He pleaded guilty to being in possession of indecent photographs of children between August 2 2019 and January 27, and making indecent photographs by saving them onto his computer between December 1 last year and January 27.
Fiscal depute, Anna Chisholm, told the court police searched Todd’s home on the latter date.
The 54-year-old initially claimed that he had accidentally downloaded the images while searching for adult pornography, but later admitted he downloaded them for sexual gratification.
There were two category A images, four category B images and 200 category C images still accessible on his devices at the time of the search.
Three category A images, two category B images and 1,732 category C images had already been deleted by Todd, with the earliest creation date being December 2010.
Defence agent, Liam McAllister, said his client needed and wanted “profession help”, adding that he felt “disgusted” by himself.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan said Todd’s interest in child sexual abuse was “most disturbing” and he had a “very serious problem”.
Todd was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and to take part in a sexual offender rehabilitation programme.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register.
