A young pervert from Angus caught with child abuse videos categorised as the most graphic kind has been handed an alternative to custody.
Carnoustie paedophile Ruari Patterson was told his behaviour was “harmful” when he was placed under supervision at a sentencing hearing this week.
In December, he appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and admitted taking or making indecent photographs of children.
Returning to court for sentencing, Patterson was placed under supervision for two years and he will be on the sex offenders register for as long.
He must also partake in the Tay Project and complete the Moving Forward: Making Changes programme aimed at rehabilitating sex offenders.
“Harmful”
Sheriff Krista Johnston said: “You’re 20 years old. I require to treat you as a young person. You pled guilty at the outset.
“You must be aware that your behaviour in accessing such images is harmful behaviour.
“It has a very close link to the abuse of children.
“I’m in possession of a social work report. In all the circumstances, I consider that the public is best protected by the imposition of a community payback order for a lengthy period of time.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is an alternative to a custodial sentence.”
The sheriff imposed a string of strict conduct requirements which she said would add “extra” assurance Patterson won’t access more vile filth in future.
While subject to the order, Patterson can only own one mobile and one computer, and must disclose any others.
He must make his devices available for inspection at any time and use no encryption, VPNs or incognito tabs and must not clear his browser history.
Solicitor Billy Rennie said: “There was no sophistication to their storage. There was no sharing.”
Family home raided
At a previous hearing, the court heard police arrived with a warrant at Patterson’s family home having gained intelligence that sick files were in existence there.
Officers arrived at the property in Philip Street at 6.15pm on February 1 in 2021 and found Patterson inside with his parents and sibling.
Police executed their search warrant and seized a Huawei mobile phone which was on Patterson’s person at the time.
The device was sent for analysis and investigators found evidence of vile files within it.
On the mobile was evidence of two images and nine videos which were categorised as being the most graphic abuse.
A further seven images and eight videos were rated as being Category B and 14 Category C images were also discovered.
If played back-to-back, the videos would have run for around 16 minutes.
None of the files were accessible to police, but thumbnails existed on the phone from before the files had been deleted – some dating back to May 2020.
In 2019, Patterson wrote a lengthy Twitter thread on his film-making ambitions.
For all the latest from the court rooms of Tayside and Fife, join our Facebook group.
