A former Inverness church organist who was twice jailed for possessing vast amounts of indecent images and videos of children has been caught again – after he displayed pictures on a shelf in his bedroom.
Iain McIntyre appeared before Sheriff Sara Matheson and pleaded guilty to possessing a total of 15 printed photos on January 10 last year.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told Inverness Sheriff Court they were found by police who had obtained a search warrant for his home and involved girls aged between 14 and 15, mostly in states of undress.
His solicitor advocate Clare Russell said that given McIntyre’s record of previous convictions, Sheriff Matheson could proceed to sentencing immediately.
But she asked the sheriff to defer for a background report, noting that it was a low number of images involved.
Previous convictions
Sheriff Matheson allowed McIntyre’s bail to continue, called for a criminal justice social work report and an assessment for a sex offenders’ rehabilitation programme.
McIntyre will appear again on April 29 and he was once more placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.
He had been jailed for 18 months at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2011 for possessing more than 170,000 still images and nearly 1,000 videos – the largest haul ever recovered in the Highlands at that time.
Then in 2020, he was jailed for another 18 months at Inverness Sheriff Court for possessing 3,716 stills and 80 video fragments at his Tain home.
In February this year, he was removed from his duties as relief organist at Crown Church having played there once in February 2024.
The suspension followed concerns by parents and the Church of Scotland issued a statement saying McIntyre, of Nelson Street, Inverness, had never been in the church during nursery hours or alone with a child.