WILLIAM FERGUSON FROM PERTH FINED £1,000 FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
In December 2009, a pensioner from Perth, William Ferguson, was fined £1,000 at the Sheriff Court after being found in possession of child pornography on his home computer.Sixty-six-year-old Ferguson, of Potterhill Gardens, also received a five-year designation on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
The court was informed that police discovered thousands of indecent images of children during a search of his property.
These included some as young as five years old.
Officers seized a hard drive, a tower computer unit, as well as CDs and DVDs, which were later examined by the police’s Technical Support Unit.
The analysis revealed 1,014 'live' images and 1,140 'deleted' images that were recovered.
The prosecuting attorney, Depute Fiscal Janine Bates, stated, "The ages of the children ranged from five to 16," noting that all images fell under Level One, the least severe classification.
In addition, the hard drive and two CDs contained a further 444 images of both female adults and children.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis, addressing Ferguson, who was a first-time offender, emphasized the nature of the images: "The images depicted children being abused." He made a pointed remark about the disturbing motivation behind viewing such images: "The fact that people, for whatever reason, are prepared to view these images – and no doubt pay some sort of money through websites – encourages the unscrupulous in the world to continue to abuse children." Sheriff Foulis added, "To be vulgar about it, as far as these people are concerned, there’s money to be gained from such abuse.
That’s why what you did is criminal." He further explained that if individuals like Ferguson did not access these sites, the demand—and consequently the abuse—would diminish: "If you and others did not view these sites, and accordingly did not give finance to these people, then the incentive for them to abuse children would go." He highlighted that those involved in such activities are motivated by greed and are willing to harm children for profit.
Ferguson admitted to possessing indecent photographs of children at his home on February 25 of that year.
Authorities acted after obtaining a search warrant, which was based on confidential information suggesting his involvement.
His solicitor, David Holmes, stated that Ferguson’s wife was 'extremely ill' and that Ferguson was primarily caring for her at the time.
The pensioner received approximately £900 monthly from Army and old-age pensions.
Ferguson is scheduled to pay the fine at a rate of £30 every two weeks.
