An Ullapool teenager downloaded almost 300 indecent images of children as a substitute for self-harm, it was claimed yesterday.
Lewis Paterson, of Morefield Place, who was 16 at the time of the offence and is now aged 19, pleaded guilty at Inverness Sheriff Court in April to the crime which occurred between July 2014 and February 2015 at his home.
Sentence was deferred for a background and then a psychiatric report.
At an earlier court, fiscal depute Michelle Molley said police received intelligence that the images had been downloaded to devices at that address, 38 of them at the highest end of the obscenity scale.
Defence solicitor Alison Foggo told Sheriff Margaret Neilson: “At the time, he was in a dark place indeed, spending 24 hours, seven days a week in his room playing computer games.
“It impacted on his health and he became depressed. He found the indecent images and adult pornography during this time and he expresses self-loathing and revulsion looking at the images.
“It was in a sense self harm.” Ms Foggo went on.
Paterson was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work, placed under two years supervision and on the sex offender’s register for the same period.