A paedophile caught with hundreds of indecent images of children could be spared a jail sentence after a court was told he has less than a year to live.
Former NHS psychiatric nurse Duncan Trueland is facing at least 12 months behind bars and would likely die of bladder cancer in prison if he was jailed.
His solicitor urged an Aberdeen sheriff to allow his client to serve out his sentence in the community so he could resume chemotherapy and be with his wife.
The 66-year-old, who previously worked for NHS Tayside, was found with more than 700 images of children on his laptop when police raided his Aberdeen home.
It is the second time Trueland has been convicted of possessing indecent images. In 2013 he was jailed for 18 months after amassing almost 12 days’ worth of indecent images and extreme porn at his home in Dundee.
Appearing in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court almost a decade later, he admitted possessing indecent material that featured children as young as six.
‘He’s unlikely to survive’
Trueland’s defence agent Ian Woodward-Nutt argued jail time would weigh “significantly heavier” on him given he’s “unlikely to survive a time longer than that sentence”.
“His doctor suggests it’s not likely that my client will survive 12 months from now,” Mr Woodward-Nutt told the court.
“His wife has significant health conditions too, both physical and mental, and would be unable to visit him in prison.
“A custodial sentence today means it would be unlikely my client would be able to see his wife again.”
The court was told Trueland had been amassing the child sex material over a period of six years.
Fiscal depute Carol Gammie said police raided his home on January 28 last year having received information that a device at the property may have child sex abuse material on it.
Found with 716 indecent images
She said: “A systematic search of the locus was conducted where a number of items were found, including a laptop which the accused confirmed belonged to him.
“The laptop was thereafter examined and 716 indecent still images of children were found on it.”
Of those images, 130 were classed as Category A – the most serious – 83 Category B and 503 Category C.
It was assessed that the girls and boys who were featured in the images were aged between six and 14.
Trueland admitted downloading child sex abuse material to his computer between January 2016 and January 2022 at each of his homes on Thorter Way and Riverside Drive in Dundee and May Baird Park in Aberdeen.
He was previously jailed at Dundee Sheriff Court in 2013 after amassing a massive haul of child and extreme porn – which he claimed was “a form of nostalgia”.
On that occasion, he admitted to downloading almost 12 days’ worth of indecent videos on his computer at his home address in Dundee’s Lawers Road over the course of more than four years.
Mr Woodward-Nutt asked for Sheriff Ian Wallace to deal with his client’s “extraordinary circumstances” by taking “extraordinary steps” and imposing a community payback order and curfew instead of prison time.
He added that Trueland’s bladder cancer had progressed to his lungs and the diagnosis was terminal.
“The doctor proposes he recommences chemotherapy tomorrow and attends Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for chemotherapy infusions weekly every three weeks out of four,” the solicitor added.
Sheriff Ian Wallace deferred the sentencing of Trueland further to obtain further information from his consultant and the Scottish Prison Service.
