Aberdeen man on sex offenders register after misunderstanding child image laws

ABERDEEN MAN ON SEX OFFENDERS REGISTER AFTER MISUNDERSTANDING CHILD IMAGE LAWS

A man identified as Martin Duncan has been placed on the sex offenders register following his guilty plea to charges related to indecent images of children.

Duncan was discovered with hundreds of indecent images and over an hour of video footage depicting young individuals.

The police acted on intelligence linked to Duncan’s IP address, which indicated he was downloading and sharing material involving child sexual abuse.

During a raid at his home in Hutcheon Court, Aberdeen, on December 23, 2020, officers seized devices containing files related to child sexual abuse.

Examination revealed 709 accessible indecent images, with 29 categorized as the most serious Category A.

Additionally, 74 videos were found, including 37 in Category A, with a total runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Duncan admitted during police interviews that he had been downloading pornography files, searching for images of teenage girls, which he defined as aged 16 and over.

He claimed he was not specifically seeking images of children under 16, stating he believed that 16 and 17-year-olds were adults, which led to a misunderstanding of the legal definition of such images.

Despite pleading guilty, Duncan expressed remorse and showed insight, but the court sentenced him to two years of supervision, 252 hours of unpaid work, and mandated registration as a sex offender.