A Fife man who downloaded child porn has escaped a prison sentence and will still be able to access the internet.
George Shaw, from Saline, was caught with two sickening videos showing girls aged about 10 and 14, Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard.
He was placed on probation for three years.
Shaw (63), of Henderson Place, pled guilty to taking, or allowing to be taken, indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at his home on May 13 last year.
When the case called last month depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf told Sheriff Craig McSherry that Shaw had no previous convictions.
The police turned up at the accused’s home following inquiries involving an internet service provider. Shaw was at home. Officers seized a computer. It was taken away and examined, the depute fiscal added.
There appeared to be three movie clips on the machine’s hard drive, although two of them were the same.
Miss Yousaf said that piece of film showed a female of about 14 years old with an adult male who was engaged in a sex act.
The second clip showed a girl of about 10 exposing herself.
Both clips were said to be at level three on the Copine scale, which assesses how serious such images are.
Shaw was interviewed by the police and told detectives he had access to the computer and had gone to various websites.
The images were found on the temporary download section of the machine and not the hard drive, Miss Yousaf said.
She said, “He was interviewed and said he likes to look at late-teen stuff.”
Shaw was cautioned and charged and made no reply.
Solicitor Gordon Martin said that the video clips would eventually have disappeared as further material was downloaded onto the hard drive.
Mr Martin told Sheriff McSherry, “He’s not saved it.”
When the cased called on Wednesday, Mr Martin’s colleague Marjorie Socha told the sheriff her client used the internet at work. However, it could be monitored by Shaw’s colleagues.
She pointed out that most jobs these days required some access to the internet, adding, “He has a very good work record.”
Sheriff McSherry ordered Shaw to attend the community sex offending group work programme and ordered his name to be added to the sex offenders register.
He also said Shaw should not have unsupervised access to anyone under the age of 16.