Man caught with thousands of child images avoids jail

MAN CAUGHT WITH THOUSANDS OF CHILD IMAGES AVOIDS JAIL

Duncan Morrison, aged 59, was found to have downloaded and possessed more than 2,000 indecent images of children, including some classified as most severe Category A.

The images featured young girls aged between one and sixteen, and were created over an extended period from July 2009 to May 2020.

Morrison admitted to police that he accessed the images out of 'nosiness' and claimed he did not do so for sexual gratification, stating, 'I was stupid.' When police searched his home in Nelson Terrace, Keith, last year, a laptop containing Category C images was recovered, prompting device searches and seizure of multiple devices containing 2,143 Category C images, 123 Category B images, and 175 Category A images.

Police reported that most of the images were stored in inaccessible locations on the devices.

Morrison was interviewed by officers, during which he admitted to searching for 'young females' online, aware they were children due to their development stages.

Despite the severity of his charges, Morrison was spared jail after pleading guilty and was instead sentenced to a community payback order with two years' supervision, 190 hours of unpaid work, and mandatory completion of a sex offenders' programme in Moray.

He will remain on the sex offenders register for two years.

The sheriff noted that Morrison was a first offender and recognized the shame his actions brought upon himself and his family, describing him as 'low risk' with a minimal chance of reoffending.