A Perthshire web developer was warned he faces jail after a court heard he trawled the dark web for “child sex tourism” and downloaded photos of children as young as six months old being sexually abused.
Darren Kennedy, 35, was arrested after an early morning raid on the home where had lived alone for eight years.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard police were tipped off and visited Kennedy’s home in Menteith Crescent, Callander, at 7.30 am on June 20, 2019, to execute a search warrant.
They found nearly 2,850 indecent images of children on a laptop, a computer tower system unit, and an external hard drive.
Nearly 700 of them were of the most serious “A” category.
Two indecent videos showing children were also found.
Software used to trawl the dark web – including the “Tor” browser which is supposed to make users anonymous on the internet – had been used to download the collection.
Kennedy, whose occupation is listed at Companies House as “web developer”, pled guilty to downloading child abuse material.
Prison warning after grim searches
Prosecutor Katie Cunningham said: “Search terms that had been used included ‘child sex tourism’, ‘paedo art collection’, ‘dark net’, and ‘PTCH’, which is an acronym for ‘pre- teen hardcore’.
“The images showed children of between approximately six months and 15 years of age engaged in sexual activity with adults and other children or children posing naked or semi-clothed.”
Solicitor Mike Bell, defending, said: “Mr Kennedy has not been in prison before and a [background] report will undoubtedly be required.”
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony deferred sentence for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment and placed Kennedy on the Sex Offenders Register.
Continuing bail, he warned him: “You should be aware that having regard to the nature of the matter, prison is a very real possibility.”
Leaving court, Kennedy gave a V-sign to a reporter who asked him if he had any comment to make but said nothing.
He is listed as having resigned as a director of the Callander Community Development Trust on July 31, 2015, having been in post for less than a year.
The Trust puts on summer and winter festivals and runs community facilities including a heritage trail and “friendship garden” in the Perthshire town.
