A Fife man caught with a stash of sick child abuse images and videos has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Scott Menzies, 30, previously admitted having the vile content on his phone and tablet devices.
It showed children, aged between infants and 16 years old, engaged in extreme sexual activity.
He appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last week to be sentenced.
Defence lawyer Chris Sneddon said Menzies felt “disgusted” children were abused in the production of the material and had recently attempted to take his own life and ended up in hospital.
Mr Sneddon said Menzies’ position is he did not obtain sexual gratification from the images.
Sheriff Susan Duff said she did not accept this and stressed most of the images were category A – the most graphic kind.
The sheriff sentenced Menzies to a two-year offender supervision requirement with a conduct requirement, as part of a community payback order.
He was also told to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for two years.
The sheriff told him: “Be under no illusion this is a direct alternative to custody and any failure to comply… will result in your case coming back to court”.
Suicide bid during police search
The court heard previously Menzies attempted suicide as police searched his Cowdenbeath home in April last year following a tip-off about indecent images of children being linked to the internet there.
He was taken to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital.
Procurator fiscal depute Laura McManus said Menzies’ partner had arrived home during the search and he apologised to her before trying to end his life. Police then intervened.
He claimed he had been sent images by others with whom he had been in contact and wanted to “out them as sexual offenders”.
Ms McManus said the tablet device contained 24 indecent images and 107 videos – 99 of which were the most graphic kind – of children.
The mobile phone contained 123 indecent images of children, aged between two and 16.
The court heard the sexual content of the images and videos was extreme.
The fiscal depute said Menzies, while posing as a teenage girl, had also used a mobile phone to send indecent images to another social media user, who purported to be a 16-year-old female.
In July, Menzies pled guilty to distributing or showing indecent photos of children at his home in Cowdenbeath’s Broad Street in January 2018.
He also admitted taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photos of children, between December 2017 and April 2021.
Interest in hunter groups
Defence lawyer Alan Davie said in July that Menzies initially developed an interest in paedophile hunter groups.
Through engaging on the community’s websites, images and videos became available and he found himself “deeper into a mire of obtaining this material”.
Mr Davie said Menzies suffered from depression and this became an outlet for him.
The solicitor added: “It’s something he completely regrets and he has a notable level of shame in relation to that.”
