A Moray man who downloaded indecent videos of children as young as six has been accused of fuelling the demand for child abuse images.
John Rouse was caught with four films on a tablet after police raided his Fochabers home in February.
Yesterday at Elgin Sheriff Court the 61-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register for three years after he pleaded guilty to charges of “taking, permitting to be taken or making” the images and a further charge of possessing them.
Police launched an investigation after being alerted to films being uploaded to the internet with an online address linked to Rouse.
Officers found four videos, one of which depicted a 12-year-old girl with an animal, with a total run time of 11 minutes on the device.
Reports gathered by social workers ahead of yesterday’s hearing explained that Rouse “lacked empathy” for the victims in the films.
However, defence solicitor Robert Cruickshank stressed his client had also been graded as a “low risk” offender.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov said: “I always think one image is too many but in the scheme of things four images is not the hundreds or thousands we hear of on other occasions.”
A NSPCC spokesman said: “By downloading these videos and images, Rouse was fuelling the demand for such material and sustaining this abhorrent industry, putting more children at risk of being exploited and abused.”
Rouse, of Slorachs Brae in Fochabers, was also sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work.