A man caught with indecent images of children for a second time has been spared jail at Inverness Sheriff Court.
William Cowan had 223 vile photos on his computer when it was seized by police following a search of his home.
The images included 27 that were classed as category A – the most severe – and featured girls as young as five.
Cowan, 44, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted downloading the images between August 1, 2020 and
February 2, 2022.
The court had previously heard that Cowan’s home in Muldearg Place, Fearn, was raided by police on February 2 2022 and a computer tower was seized.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told Sheriff Gary Aitken: “After forensic examination, 223 inaccessible images were found.
“They were 27 in Category A (the most graphic involving sexual activity), 9 in category B and 187 in Category C.
Photos showed girls aged five to 15
“The images in Category A related to young females aged between 5 and 12 and the majority in Category C involved females aged between 10 and 15 posing nude in provocative poses.”
Defence advocate Bill Adam KC, for Cowan, told the court his client was “a mild-mannered and timid individual” who “had the support of this family”.
He said delays to the sentencing caused by Cowan’s reluctance to accept responsibility for his crimes during the production of presentencing reports were as a result of “fear and trepidation”.
He added: “He accepts full responsibility for those images being on his computer.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken noted that this was Cowan’s second conviction for “the same thing”, but stopped short of jailing him – placing him on a community payback order as a direct alternative to custody.
Sexual harm prevention order
Sheriff Aitken ordered that Cowan remains under social work supervision for three years, complete the Moving Forward 2 Change programme for sex offenders and carry out 225 hours of unpaid work in the community.
As well as placing Cowan on the sex offenders register for five years, he also made him subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.
The order restricts Cowan’s access to the internet and prevents him from concealing his online activities or having unauthorised contact with children.
