A terminally-ill paedophile with just months left to live has avoided jail despite the sheriff telling him that he deserves to be locked up.
Former NHS psychiatric nurse Duncan Trueland was facing at least 12 months in prison and would have died from bladder and lung cancer before he was freed.
But a sheriff has reluctantly spared the 66-year-old from a custodial sentence because the prison’s “basic” healthcare and unreliable hospital transport arrangements would have limited his access to medical treatment.
Sheriff Ian Wallace, who deliberated and repeatedly sought updates from prison bosses over how Trueland could be accommodated in jail, told him: “You deserve to go to prison.
“But for your particular circumstances, you would go to prison.”
Trueland, who previously worked for NHS Tayside, was caught with more than 700 indecent images of children on his laptop when police raided his Aberdeen home.
The court was told that he had collected the unlawful material over a period of six years.
Police raided his home on January 28 last year, when they discovered a device with 716 disturbing pictures of girls and boys aged between six and 14 years old.
Among them were 130 pictures which were classed as Category A – the most serious – 83 Category B and 503 Category C.
‘Rehabilitation is too late for you’
Sheriff Wallace told Trueland: “You deserve to go to prison. But for your particular circumstances, you would go to prison.
“However, you have incurable cancer. You have a terminal diagnosis. Your consultant oncologist has stated on soul and conscience to the court that you cannot be expected to live more than 12 months.
“That prognosis is stated to be optimistic. In addition, you have other significant medical problems.”
He added that, although prison authorities confirmed that they could accommodate Trueland in prison safely, the court had to take into account the purpose of any sentence.
“Rehabilitation is not a relevant factor to take into account in your circumstances. That is too late for you. The time left to you is short,” he added.
He told the sex offender that viewing and downloading indecent images is “not a victimless crime” and that Trueland must consider himself “complicit in the sexual abuse of children”.
Trueland’s defence agent argued it would be unsafe to imprison his client because he’d need to be taken to hospital twice a week for blood tests and chemotherapy.
He also might have required nighttime nursing care that is not currently offered at HMP Grampian, his solicitor said.
The court heard a report from Trueland’s cancer consultant which branded the Scottish Prison Service’s healthcare facilities “basic”.
It also claimed that prison transportation wasn’t reliable enough to get him to appointments.
But a spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said told The Press And Journal that “if overnight care is required, we would look to put an appropriate management plan in place”.
And prisoner transport firm GEOAmey has said that, so far this year, it’s carried out 93% of hospital appointment bookings for inmates.
‘He’s unlikely to survive jail term’
The sex offender’s solicitor Ian Woodward-Nutt said jail time would weigh “significantly heavier” on Trueland as he’s “unlikely to survive a time longer than that sentence”.
“His doctor suggests it’s not likely that my client will survive 12 months from now,” he told the court at the first sentencing attempt back in January.
“His wife has significant health conditions too, both physical and mental, and would be unable to visit him in prison.
“A custodial sentence today means it would be unlikely my client would be able to see his wife again.”
Previously jailed for indecent images
Trueland admitted downloading child sex abuse content to his computer between January 2016 and January 2022 at each of his homes on Thorter Way and Riverside Drive in Dundee and May Baird Park, Aberdeen.
In 2013, he was jailed for 18 months after amassing almost 12 days’ worth of indecent images and extreme pornography at his home in Dundee.
On that occasion, he told Dundee Sheriff Court that his massive haul was “a form of nostalgia”.
On sentencing the dying man, Sheriff Wallace told him: “I should make it clear: the only reason I am not imposing a sentence of imprisonment is because you have such a short time left to live, and your health in the short time between now and your death will inevitably deteriorate.
“The court continues to express the strongest disapproval of your conduct.
“It would be open to the court to imprison you. You deserve to be punished. But I have decided that in all the circumstances the court should refrain from imposing a prison sentence.”
Trueland, of May Baird Park in Aberdeen, was handed a curfew that allows him to attend hospital.
He also received a two-year community payback order that includes supervision, participation in a sex offending reduction programme and restrictions on his internet usage.
Trueland was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years – longer than he’s expected to live.
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