May 2017   A paedophile who was caught with a hoard of the worst level of child sexual abuse images and movies has been spared a prison sentence — and has been allowed to continue using the internet unrestricted James McNeil — who stored hundreds of disgusting videos and pictures of girls aged as young as two being abused by men — has been placed on probation for three years. The 27-year-old, of Larkfield, was caught by cybercrime police with nearly 200 items of category A child abuse on a tower computer kept in a cupboard. He later failed to co-operate fully with a psychological assessment following his conviction in February and has been assessed as being of ‘average risk’ of re-offending. Police found a total of 330 indecent images, made up of 150 still pictures and 180 videos. McNeil had 193 category A images, which are defined in law as the worst and most sexually explicit — 136 of which were videos. All of the material featured young females aged between two and 14 years. McNeil pleaded guilty to taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children between May 30 2008 and December 14 2011, inclusive, and between March 16 and November 11 2015. At his sentencing hearing Sheriff Derek Hamilton pointed out that he’d told social workers that he was unwilling to do unpaid work. Sheriff Hamilton placed McNeil on probation for three years and ordered him to complete 300 hours of unpaid work within 12 months. McNeil was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years and will be reported to Scottish ministers as someone deemed unsuitable to work with children and protected adults. March 2017 Police find hundreds of horrific child abuse images in Greenock man’s bedroom A paedophile was caught with a sickening hoard of the worst level of child sexual abuse images after a police cybercrime team swooped on his bedroom shortly after dawn. Depraved James McNeil buried his head in his hands and confessed to his mother after she asked him if the raid had anything to do with him, Greenock Sheriff Court was told. The 27-year-old pervert had downloaded hundreds of disgusting videos and pictures of girls aged as young as two being abused by men during periods spanning more than seven years. McNeil, of Larkfield, hoarded nearly 200 individual items of horrific category A child abuse on a tower computer that he kept in a storage cupboard. He sat with his head bowed as the scale of his offending was narrated by procurator fiscal depute Pamela Brady, who told how he had further catalogues of category B and C images — all showing exploited young girls. Mrs Brady told the court how McNeil had been asleep when police, armed with a search warrant, raided his mother’s home shortly before 8am on March 31 last year — then woke and admitted his guilt. The prosecutor said: “Police were made aware of information indicating that indecent images of children were available to an IP address connected to subscriber details at an address in Greenock. “A search warrant was sought and granted at Greenock Sheriff Court on March 30 and at 7.50am on March 31 a number of police officers attended at the house. “The door was answered by the accused’s stepfather, police were allowed entry and officers spoke with the accused’s mother. “They thereafter found the accused asleep in his bedroom. “It was explained to all parties why the police were present. “The accused’s mother stated to the accused, ‘Is this anything to do with you?’ “The accused replied, ‘It’s me — I’m sorry’ and then buried his head in his hands.” The court was told how a ‘number’ of electronic devices were seized from McNeil’s bedroom, including the tower computer, an HP laptop and a hard drive that was sitting behind a TV unit. Mrs Brady said: “The cybercrime unit carried out an initial analysis of the tower system and it was immediately apparent that indecent images of children were contained on the device. “The accused was detained and taken to Greenock police office, where he consulted with a solicitor. “An interview was carried out in the presence of the solicitor and the accused answered ‘no comment’ to all questions put to him by the police. “He appeared at Greenock Sheriff Court and thereafter a full examination of the devices was carried out by the cybercrime unit and a disc of the images found was produced. “There were 330 images in total, made up of 150 still images and 180 moving images.” McNeil had a total of 193 category A images, which are defined in law as the worst and most sexually explicit images, the court heard. There were 136 category A videos and 57 category A images. Mrs Brady told how one of the videos showed a three-year-old girl being abused and a still image displayed the exploitation of a four-year-old. She said: “All of the images featured females aged between two and 14 years.” McNeil pleaded guilty through lawyer Ellen Macdonald to taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children between May 30 2008 and December 14 2011, inclusive, and between March 16 and November 11 2015. His not guilty plea to a charge of having in his possession indecent photos or pseudo photos of children between February 1 2008 and March 31 2016 was accepted by the Crown. Sheriff Derek Hamilton said: “I will continue bail at this stage but Mr McNeil should be in no doubt about the seriousness of this matter and the sentencing guidelines laid down by the High Court.” The sheriff deferred sentence for background and psychological reports until April 5 and immediately placed McNeil on the Sex Offenders Register. Solicitor Ms Macdonald reserved her plea in mitigation on behalf of McNeil until his sentencing hearing.