A man caught with more than 2,000 sick images, some of which belonged to the most serious category A, has been spared jail.
Duncan Morrison had previously admitted two charges relating to the downloading and possession of the images which featured girls between the ages of one and 16.
When the vile pictures were discovered he told officers he only accessed them out of “nosiness” and did not do it for sexual gratification.
Morrison, 59, appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court following the production of pre-sentencing reports.
A previous hearing had heard that police searched Morrison’s home in Nelson Terrace, Keith, in relation to an unrelated matter on April 14 of last year.
On that occasion, fiscal depute Emily Hood told the court: “During this search, a laptop containing category C images of children was recovered.”
As a result of this, Morrison’s home and car were searched under warrant and several devices were seized.
Duncan Morrison: ‘I was stupid’
When he was cautioned and charged Morrison told officers: “I was stupid.”
During a police interview, he admitted that he would search for “young females” online. He told officers he was “aware they were children due to their development”.
“He stated that he did this due to nosiness and would not get sexual gratification out of it,” Ms Hood said.
The court heard that the devices contained 2,143 category C images, as well as 123 category B images and 175 images classified as category A – the most severe. The files were created between July 2009 and May 2020
Most of the images were in inaccessible locations on the devices and were not readily available to the device user.
There were also three inaccessible videos, two of which were category A.
Speaking at the sentencing hearing, defence solicitor Robert Cruickshank said Morrison was a first offender who up until recently had been in permanent employment.
Sex offender’s ‘shame’
He said his client, who has since been classified as “low risk” with a “minimal” chance of reconviction, recognises that his actions were wrong and “acknowledges the shame and embarrassment that he had brought upon himself and also that he has brought on his family”.
Sheriff Robert Frazer told Morrison: “You plead guilty to what can be described as serious charges and you accept your guilt and responsibility for those charges.”
He placed Morrison on a community payback order with two years’ supervision and 190 hours of unpaid work in the community, as well as a requirement to complete the Moray sex offenders programme.
Morrison will remain on the sex offenders register for two years.
