A 22-year-old Dulnain Bridge man who was caught with indecent child images on his computer was spared a jail sentence.
Colin White, of Skye of Curr Road, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday after previously admitting possessing 162 indecent images of children.
Most were of the lowest category of obscenity.
Sheriff David Sutherland said: “Serious charges like this often attract prison sentences. Your lack of record, your remorse, the social work report and that of the sex offender’s rehabilitation programme team who say they have no concerns about any future problems of this nature, that allows me to impose a community based disposal.”
White was placed under one year’s supervision and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
At an earlier hearing, the court had been told that the images had been downloaded on to his Macbook laptop between December 31, 2016 and December 22, 2017 at a house in Carrbridge.
Fiscal depute David Morton said that of the images, one was at the most extreme level and two others were in the middle category. The rest were at the lowest end of the depravity scale.
Defence solicitor advocate Mike Chapman said: “My client exhibits shame and embarrassment about this and could be dealt with by a degree of leniency.”
White’s laptop was confiscated.