A serial Angus OAP sex offender on the register until 2024 has admitted having extreme animal pornography on his computer.
Police carrying out a routine visit to James Jamieson’s rural home as part of regular controls on the his activities were shocked to discover an image involving a woman and a horse.
Jamieson, who was previously convicted of a number of sexual offences in Fife, freely admitted he viewed such material and bizarrely told police he thought it was okay to possess it because he had looked at it on a free website.
Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan told Forfar Sheriff Court the accused was subject to sex offender registration until July 2024 and was visited by the offender management officers on the morning of April 10 this year.
The accused allowed them into his house and gave permission for a mobile phone and computer to be examined.
The single extreme image was found under the user profile with the name Jim, the court heard.
Jamieson, of South Kingennie, near Broughty Ferry was taken to police headquarters and when asked if he realised what he had done was illegal replied: “It can’t be if it’s free on a free site.”
Sheriff Derek Reekie deferred sentence on Jamieson until December 19 and called for reports, including his suitability for the Tay Project for sex offenders, as well as a tagging order assessment.
“Clearly this is a matter of concern having regard to the nature of the offence and your previous convictions,” said the sheriff.
Jamieson’s previous punishments included a three-year community payback order imposed at Cupar Sheriff Court in 2012 after he was convicted of lewd behaviour involving three different women in rural Fife.
In 2014, the pest control operator and keen falconer was then sent behind bars after making comments about his private parts to a vulnerable woman.
In an almost identical offence to one committed two years’ previously, he had been using an owl to snare seagulls in St Andrews when he was engaged in conversation by the victim.