A pervert caught with naked pictures of a 12-year-old girl, and who requested a 15-year-old send him a topless selfie, has dodged a jail sentence.
Aaron Gunn, 21, had 42 indecent images of children across three different devices when police raided his home.
Among those 42, which were of children in erotic poses but no sexual activity, were nine naked pictures sent to Gunn by a 12-year-old girl.
Gunn, of Tower Street, Golspie, admitted possessing the images between December 22 and May 12, 2020 and of sending a sexual communication to a 15-year-old girl asking her to send him a topless photograph of herself.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that police raided Gunn’s home when he was still a teenager.
Officers had discovered that a 12-year-old girl had been sending him naked images of herself.
‘Relatively small number of images’
The court heard that Gunn had 42 indecent images of children on three of his computer devices which had been seized in the search.
Fiscal depute Martina Eastwood said that the intelligence was received on June 7, 2019.
Sheriff Sara Matheson told Gunn he would be placed under three years of social work supervision.
He must also take part in a sex offender’s rehabilitation programme, and will remain on the Sex Offender’s Register for three years.
Sheriff Matheson explained: “Because of the relatively small number of images and that they are in the least serious category, I can deal with this with a sentence other than one of custody.”
