A man who downloaded an indecent image of a child while at a holiday park had been “led down a dark path” during lockdown, a court has heard.
Barry Grant, 44, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted to downloading a single picture of a girl under 12 via the online chat app Kik.
Police raided Grant’s home after they had received intelligence that he had downloaded files containing child sexual abuse.
One picture of a girl aged between 10 and 12 years old was discovered on his phone.
Grant, who now lives in Perth, pleaded guilty to one charge of downloading and having an indecent image of a child on his device while at Ecclesgreig Holiday Park, St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire.
The court heard that on Friday 11 June last year intelligence was received to police from the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit concerning a user of a Kik account connected to a ‘Mr Kirby Couple’ who had download files of child sexual abuse from the internet.
The IP address used was traced to a telephone account that was used by Grant and a search warrant was granted.
Most serious category of child image was found
Fiscal depute Kiril Bonavono told the court: “On July 15 constables attended at the locus and executed the warrant.
“Entry was granted by the wife of the accused and a systematic search of the locus was conducted with a number of items being searched and seized for examination.
“The accused had been working in Aberdeen but was soon located by the constables when he returned to the locus.
“He was cautioned and arrested and his mobile phone was seized.
“The accused provided pin codes for his devices.
“The investigation found one photograph on the device that contained child sexual exploitation and consisted of a Category A picture of a female child aged between 10 to 12 years old.
“The file creation date was June 13 2021.”
Mr Bonavino added that the image had been downloaded to a hidden folder on Grant’s phone.
‘He is the author of his own misfortune’
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told the court that during lockdown his client had become “enmeshed” in the chat application Kik.
He said: “He is mortified to find himself before the court today.
“During lockdown he had been chatting about sexual matters on Kik account application, it was a consensual chat.
“Completely without behest on his part he was sent a link to the site whereby he came to police attention – he clicked on it and in effect downloaded this image to his phone.
“By the time the warrant was executed it was no longer on his phone because he had almost immediately deleted it.
“He accepts that he is the author of his own misfortune and had been led down a dark path during the pandemic.”
Sheriff Margaret Hodge agreed that Grant was “indeed that author of his own misfortune”.
She added: “I accept that it was an isolated incident but it was your actions prior that did lead up to the commission of the offence.
“By participating, even through curiosity, you were participating in sexual exploitation.”
Sheriff Hodge fined Grant, of Bleacher’s Way, Perth, a total of £540.
She also placed him on the sex offenders register for five years.
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