A paedophile whose marriage ended after 13 days when he was arrested for possession of child abuse images has avoided jail.
John Gray was abandoned by his wife after police found the images.
The 25-year-old was caught after bragging about abusing children during an online chat with a woman who contacted the police.
At Perth Sheriff Court, Gray was placed on the sex offenders register for three years and banned from contact with under-18s for the same period.
He is also prohibited from owning more than one computer or mobile phone and must inform a supervising officer if he uses any device that can connect to the internet.
Solicitor Billy Somerville, defending, said: “He is a first offender and the images don’t appear to have been accessed for some time.
“The conversation seems to have been bravado.”
However, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis reminded Gray that behind each of the images was an abused child.
Gray, of Stanley, had admitted sending sexually explicit, grossly offensive and obscene messages to a woman, in which he talked about abusing children between September 2-14 2016.
He denied two further charges but was found guilty of downloading child abuse images between July 17-November 22 2014, and having illicit images between July 17 2014 and November 3 2016.
Forensic examination of Gray’s online history revealed he had been discussing exchanging child abuse images and video with others while using Skype.
When police officers searched the computer’s hidden file locations they found three videos and 46 still images that gave them cause for concern.
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