A former Inverness church organist and convicted paedophile has avoided jail despite displaying indecent images of children on a shelf in his bedroom.
Iain McIntyre – who has twice been jailed for possessing vast amounts of indecent images and videos of children – had 15 printed photos of undressed young girls at his home.
The 52-year-old, of Nelson Street, Inverness but who formerly stayed in Tain’s Mansfield Estate, previously appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to possessing the images on January 10 last year.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood previously told Inverness Sheriff Court they were found by police who had obtained a search warrant for his home and involved girls aged between 14 and 15, mostly in states of undress.
Sentence had been deferred for a background report.
Relief organist at Inverness church
He had been jailed for 18 months at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2011 for possessing more than 170,000 still images and nearly 1,000 videos – the largest haul ever recovered in the Highlands at that time.
Then in 2020, he was jailed for another 18 months at Inverness Sheriff Court for possessing 3,716 stills and 80 video fragments at his Tain home.
In February this year, he was removed from his duties as relief organist at Crown Church, having played there once in February 2024.
The suspension followed concerns by parents and the Church of Scotland issued a statement saying McIntyre had never been in the church during nursery hours or alone with a child.
His solicitor David Patterson said: “Given his record of previous convictions, he should have known better.”
McIntyre re-appeared in front of Sheriff Ian Cruickshank for sentencing yesterday and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work and take part in a sex offender’s rehabilitation programme.
He was also placed under social work supervision and on the sex offender’s register for three years as an alternative to custody.