December 2013 School teacher caught with child abuse images avoids prison sentence A school teacher caught with indecent images of children on his computer has avoided a jail sentence. John MacMillan was put on the sex offenders’ register for three years and will be supervised closely during that time. MacMillan (60), of Beechwood Gardens, Mossend, admitted having the indecent material over a three-year period at his home and at Brannock High School in Newarthill where he was an information technology teacher. At Hamilton Sheriff Court today he also admitted having ‘extreme’ pornographic images featuring humans and animals on various dates in January this year. Defence agent Nicholas Scullion junior said MacMillan turned to child porn to ‘fill a vacuum’ after the breakdown of his relationship. His family and friends were ‘shocked’ at what he’d done, but were helping to support him. Mr Scullion said MacMillan has for most of this year been attending a group for people who have committed similar offences and is getting his urges ‘under control’. The solicitor added: “He is a first offender, a person of previous good repute and character. “He is genuinely sorry, knows he did something very wrong and has taken steps to prevent it happening again.” Sheriff Douglas Brown said he was willing to accept a social work recommendation that Macmillan be given a community payback order as an alternative to jail. As well as being supervised, Macmillan must do 270 hours of unpaid community work. Over the next thre years he cannot have unsupervised contact with under-17s or access the internet without the approval of his supervising officer. A North Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: “As soon as we became aware of these allegations we took immediate and appropriate action. Mr MacMillan no longer works for this council.” November 2013 IT teacher who taught pupils how to stay safe online is caught with child abuse images on computer A TEACHER who taught pupils how to stay safe online is facing jail – after being caught with child abuse images on his home computer. Detectives also found John MacMillan, 60, had downloaded images showing people having sex with animals. The pervert was a respected computing and IT teacher at Brannock High School in Newarthill, Lanarkshire. But his life unravelled in January when police raided his office and his home in nearby Bellshill after receiving a tip-off. At an earlier hearing, the first offender pled guilty to possessing the indecent images between January 2010 and January 2013. MacMillan was due to be sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court yesterday. But in a farcical mix-up, a warrant for his arrest was issued in court three while he was sitting in court six, where a J. McMillan was due to appear. It is understood the pervert was sent to the wrong court by reception staff. MacMillan will now be sentenced at a later date.