A Dunfermline man caught with almost 18,000 child abuse images has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Jordan McKay downloaded photographs and videos over the course of more than two and a half years.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court the 27-year old was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for two years.
His solicitor Pete Robertson acknowledged “the number (of images) is not the lowest” but urged a sheriff to follow the recommendation of social workers not to impose a custodial sentence.
Sheriff James Williamson told McKay: “Given the details of this report, and notwithstanding the serious nature of this offence, I’m prepared to deal with this without sending you to prison.
“But if you breach any of these conditions that’s exactly where you’ll go.”
He ordered that McKay carry out 160 hours of unpaid work and placed him on a 24-month supervision order.
Additionally, the sheriff banned him from having any device for accessing the internet unless it saves the search history and McKay is forbidden from erasing that history.
Thousands of images
The court had previously heard McKay, of Glengairn Walk in Dunfermline, was caught after officers of the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit linked his address to downloads of indecent images and videos.
Police searched the property and seized a number of devices, including computers, a mobile phone, USB drives and a hard drive.
Indecent images and videos were found on five of them.
In total, 16,510 indecent images and 1,151 indecent videos were found.
Of these, 2,252 images and 561 videos were category A – the most graphic kind.
McKay pled guilty to taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at Glengairn Walk and elsewhere, between July 1 2018 and January 13 2021.
