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Teenager wanted to plead guilty to child porn charges, but no one replied to his solicitor

Inverness Castle
Inverness Castle

Prosecutors were criticised for failing to respond to a solicitor who wanted to plead guilty on behalf of his teenage client for downloading 260 indecent images of children.

Solicitor advocate Shahid Latif told Sheriff Margaret Neilson at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday that he had written several times to the procurator fiscal’s office in Inverness since 2015 and failed to get a response.

He added: “I also wrote to a named individual and again I did not even get the courtesy of a reply. Given the length of time this has been going on and the fact my client wanted to plead guilty then, I am asking for the appropriate discounts in sentence.”

Peter Stewart, now aged 19, of Murray Road, Invergordon, was 17 at the time he downloaded the images in October 2014.

Sentence had been deferred for a background report and a mental health report, which Mr Latif explained showed his client was autistic.

“There were a low number of images here and it could be said it was not in the public interest to prosecute in this case, particularly at indictment level.

“There was a lack of maturity here during a period in his life when he became socially withdrawn. My client has now been waiting almost two years for this case to be dealt with.”

Sheriff Neilson reduced the sentence from 240 hours of unpaid work to 100 hours, ordered Stewart to remain under supervision for three years and on the sex offender’s register for the same period.