A Boy’ Brigade leader, who admitted possessing hundreds of indecent images of children, has been placed on the sex offenders register for 18 months and ordered to carry our 270 hours of unpaid work.
Mark Wilkie, 47, who served with BB companies in Forfar and Monifieth, previously admitted possession of indecent material between April 30 2007 and January 6 last year.
A police search in Wilkie’s home in McCulloch Drive, Forfar, found indecent material on a computer in his bedroom.
A total of 412 indecent photos of children were recovered. They comprised 406 level one images and six at level two.
The categorisation for such material ranges from one to five, with five being the most serious end of the scale. The court was also told that seven indecent videos, downloaded between 2007 and 2010, were recovered, five of level two material and two categorised at level four.
Advocate Gavin Anderson said: “Although not a small number, it is not in this case what would be described as a high number. The vast majority of the images are level one, the lowest end of the scale.
“The offence is one of possession and nothing more than that. There is no question at all of distribution, showing them to others or having any form of systematic organisation.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray said he thought there would be more benefit to the public in a community-based disposal instead of a prison sentence in this case.
He placed Wilkie on a probation order for 18 months with a requirement that he engage with the Tay Project, an intervention programme for people convicted of sexual offences.
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