A terminally-ill nurse from Dundee has avoided jail despite a sheriff telling him that he deserves to be locked up.
Former NHS psychiatric nurse Duncan Trueland was facing at least 12 months in prison and lawyers said he would have died from bladder and lung cancer before he was freed.
A sheriff has reluctantly spared the 66-year-old from a custodial sentence because the prison’s “basic” healthcare and unreliable hospital transport arrangements would have limited his access to medical treatment.
Sheriff Ian Wallace, who deliberated and repeatedly sought updates from prison bosses over how Trueland could be accommodated in jail, told him: “You deserve to go to prison – but for your particular circumstances, you would go to prison.”
The court heard Trueland, who previously worked for NHS Tayside, was caught with more than 700 images of children on his laptop when police raided his Aberdeen home.
The court was told Trueland had collected the child sex material over a period of six years.
Police raided his home on January 28 last year and discovered a device with 716 indecent images of girls and boys aged between six and 14 years old.
Among them were 130 pictures which were classed as Category A – the most serious – 83 Category B and 503 Category C.
‘Rehabilitation is is too late for you’
Sheriff Wallace told Trueland: “You deserve to go to prison – but for your particular circumstances, you would go to prison.
“However, you have incurable cancer. You have a terminal diagnosis.
“Your consultant oncologist has stated on soul and conscience to the court that you cannot be expected to live more than 12 months.
“That prognosis is stated to be optimistic. In addition, you have other significant medical problems.”
He added although prison authorities confirmed they could accommodate Trueland in prison safely, the court had to take into account the purpose of any sentence.
“Rehabilitation is not a relevant factor to take into account in your circumstances.
“That is too late for you. The time left to you is short.”
He told the sex offender viewing and downloading indecent images is “not a victimless crime” and Trueland must consider himself “complicit in the sexual abuse of children”.
Trueland’s defence agent argued it would be unsafe to imprison his client because he would need to be taken to hospital twice a week for blood tests and chemotherapy.
He also might have required nighttime nursing care not currently offered at HMP Grampian,.
The court heard a report from Trueland’s cancer consultant which branded the Scottish Prison Service’s healthcare facilities “basic”.
It also claimed prison transportation was not reliable enough to get him to appointments.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said “if overnight care is required, we would look to put an appropriate management plan in place”.
Prisoner transport firm GEOAmey has said, so far this year, it has carried out 93% of hospital appointment bookings for inmates.
‘He’s unlikely to survive jail term’
Trueland’r’s solicitor Ian Woodward-Nutt previously said: “His doctor suggests it’s not likely that my client will survive 12 months from now.
“His wife has significant health conditions too, both physical and mental, and would be unable to visit him in prison.
“A custodial sentence… means it would be unlikely my client would be able to see his wife again.”
Previously jailed for indecent images
Trueland admitted downloading child sex abuse material between January 2016 and January 2022 at his homes on Thorter Way and Riverside Drive, Dundee and May Baird Park, Aberdeen.
In 2013, he was jailed for 18 months after amassing almost 12 days’ worth of indecent images and extreme pornography at his home in Dundee.
On that occasion, he told Dundee Sheriff Court his massive haul of indecent child images and extreme pornography was “a form of nostalgia”.
Trueland, now of May Baird Park in Aberdeen, was handed a curfew that allows him to attend hospital.
He also received a two-year community payback order that includes supervision, participation in a sex offending reduction programme and restrictions on his usage of the internet.
Trueland was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
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