October 2014 Sex offender from Bonhill caught with hundreds of indecent images of children has been jailed for 16 months  Liam Brown who had previously been described in court as having an “obsession with deviant pornography”, was back in the dock at Dumbarton Sheriff Court to be sentenced for the offences and breaching his bail conditions. The 22-year-old who lives in Bonhill, was convicted in August of downloading hundreds of pornographic images and videos of children between March 2010 and December 2011. He was snared by cops in December 2011 during Operation Alba, a joint police venture spearheaded by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency that was set-up to specifically target online paedophiles. Using technology, cops identified Internet Protocol (IP) addresses where sexual abuse images had been downloaded. One of the IP addresses led them to applying for a search warrant for Brown’s aunt’s house — a flat in Renton. Brown’s aunt had been oblivious to what had been going on but she directed police officers to a laptop that she said her nephew, who had stayed with her for a time, had used. Brown pleaded guilty to charges of downloading and possessing more than 600 indecent images and explicit videos at the flat in Renton and his home address in Bonhill. Although immediately placed on the sex offenders register following his guilty plea, sentence was deferred. He was bailed with the special condition that he was prohibited from possessing or using any device capable of connecting to the internet. Brown was granted bail but found himself was back in court earlier than expected after police officers carrying out a routine check at his home on October 13, discovered he had downloaded more videos — some featuring scenes of bestiality — on to a smartphone. Before passing sentence, Sheriff Simon Fraser said: “It is probably true to say that anyone who gets gratification from the material here needs help. “I am told there is no sex offenders programme in this jurisdiction. “I am also told that no such help is available in custody — though I would have thought rehabilitation courses would be available there. “That however is only one aspect of this case. “You were found in possession of 600 indecent images of children. That is a small amount according to the cases in Scotland but of those 600, more than 200 were at levels four and five. “The guidance is clear on that matter. “Having been placed on bail at this court with specific conditions and having appeared in front of me when I had deferred sentence, the police inspected your phone and found numerous files depicting bestiality. “That makes me seriously question that if help existed, would you take the steps to seek that help?” The sheriff imposed the custodial sentence backdating it to October 14 when Brown had been remanded in custody. He was also placed on the sex offenders register and on his release will be the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for a further five years. The order will prevent him from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. It will also prohibit him from deleting the browsing history or cache on any devices he may use to access the internet.