A man caught with more than a thousand images and videos of “sadistic” child abuse has avoided prison.
Lee Burnett claimed he had not deliberately sought out the vile images but had been sent them on messaging app Kik.
The 32-year-old had initially deleted hundreds of images but latterly took to ignoring the messages.
Fiscal depute Brian Young told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police executed a search warrant at Burnett’s Fraserburgh address at 9am on April 16 last year after receiving intelligence in relation to the offence.
A systematic search was carried out and a Samsung phone and black tablet were recovered and examined.
A total of 686 category A, the most serious kind, images were found, as well as 571 category B and 218 category C images.
‘He was being sent this material and deleted it’
All but 14 of the images were “inaccessible”, meaning they had been deleted.
However, 109 category A videos, along with 16 and 12 in categories B and C respectively, were also found, all of which were still accessible.
The images depicted children ranging from babies to 15-year-olds, including sexual activity with adults and “sadistic sexual activity”.
The videos, which had a total play length of almost two hours and 20 minutes, showed children between the ages of 2 and 14 engaged in sexual activity with adults and “sadistic sexual activity”.
Officers examining the tablet also found a Kik account which showed Burnett “had been engaged in conversations with other users about indecent images of children and that indecent images had been shared over this platform”.
Burnett, of Rowan Place, Fraserburgh, pled guilty to taking, permitting to be taken or making indecent images of pseudo-images of children between January 5 and April 8 last year.
Defence agent Stuart Flowerdew told the court his client appeared with no previous convictions.
‘You have never previously been in trouble’
He explained Burnett had been sent the images over Kik and had not searched for them himself, adding: “The type of material referred to is certainly not what he was seeking.
“There were large numbers of inaccessible images, which had been effectively deleted.
“He was being sent this material and deleted it, and then latterly just ignored it.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “It’s acknowledged he was not searching for this type of material.”
Addressing Burnett directly, he went on: “I take the view here that I could not say a custodial sentence is absolutely inevitable in this case, partly due to the particular circumstances in which you came to commit this offence.
“You have never previously been in trouble, and now, at 32 years of age, I think a more effective, positive way of dealing with you for this matter would be to impose a robust community sentence.”
As a direct alternative to custody, the sheriff imposed three years of supervision, 140 hours of unpaid work and a requirement to complete the Moving Forward, Making Changes programme.
He also made Burnett subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act.
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