GEORGE DOUGLAS SENTENCED IN ALLOA AND HELENSBURGH FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

In December 2009, a man identified as George Douglas was sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography. The investigation revealed that Douglas, aged 60, had stored a collection of highly disturbing images and videos on his computer, which he had kept in a folder on his desktop. The folder contained a total of 31 photographs and two videos, meticulously organized according to their level of depravity, with the most graphic material placed at the top.

The severity of the content was underscored during the court proceedings at Stirling Sheriff Court, where it was revealed that the videos were classified at the highest end of the Copine scale—a system used by police to evaluate the seriousness of child pornography material. The police raid that uncovered these illicit files took place in September 2008 at a residence on Colville Gardens in Alloa, a property that Douglas had previously occupied.

At the time of the raid, Douglas was residing at Drumfork Road in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute. He subsequently pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. The court also ordered that Douglas be placed on the sex offenders register for a period of ten years, reflecting the gravity of his offenses.

Sheriff Thomas McCartney, presiding over the case, detailed the nature of the images to the court, stating, “The officer involved has shown me the images involved. You had 28 images at level four, and five were found at level five, which places them at the top of the Copine scale. The two videos distributed were also classified at level four.” He further explained that forensic reports indicated the images were organized in a folder on Douglas’s computer based on their graphic content. The sheriff noted that Douglas had attempted to downplay his involvement, but concluded that the only appropriate sentence was imprisonment.

Defense attorney Stan Quirk argued that Douglas did not actively seek out or procure the images, emphasizing that he was a mature individual who had no prior criminal record and had not previously come to the attention of the court. Despite this, the court determined that the seriousness of the material warranted a custodial sentence, and Douglas was accordingly sentenced to 12 months in jail, with the additional requirement of a decade on the sex offenders register.