A sheriff has given an Inverness man who was caught downloading indecent images of children on two different occasions more time to get treatment on a special programme for sex offenders.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood deferred sentence on Jake Driver but said the 21-year-old was “either stupid or determined” after he continued to access the illegal material even after he’d been arrested by police.
Solicitor advocate Clare Russell argued her client needed more time to overcome his problems.
Inverness Sheriff Court had previously been told that officers from the National Child Abuse Investigation unit raided a Wester Ross house and found indecent images of children on Driver’s phone.
Driver had admitted downloading 37 photographs of girls aged between three and 12 years old and that he had analogous previous convictions.
He also pleaded guilty to breaching a special bail condition that he was not to be in the company of any child under the age of 17 without an adult present.
‘He needs more time to address his underlying issues’
Fiscal depute Robert Weir told Sheriff Sara Matheson that a house in MacInnes Place, Ratagan, Glenshiel, had been searched on November 21 2022 and the inaccessible images were discovered on his device.
The court heard that Driver later reported himself to police of being in the company of a 16-year-old in a house in Peffery Road, Dingwall, on April 19 2023.
Ms Russell said: “He was of the erroneous belief that the individual was 17.”
Sentence had been deferred last month on Driver, of Union Street, Inverness, for a background report which would include his progress on a sex offender’s programme called Moving Forward Making Changes.
Ms Russell said her client was due for an assessment by a psychologist and had only completed a few months of rehabilitation on the programme.
She said: “He needs more time to address his underlying issues and complete the programme.”
Sheriff Fleetwood agreed and deferred sentence for six months to May 14 for Driver’s good behaviour and an up-to-date report.
