A sex offender whose ex-wife was arrested after he downloaded horrendous images of child and animal abuse on a shared laptop was spared jail on Tuesday.
Charles Aitkenhead was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and told to take part in a rehabilitation programme after admitting to having almost 1,050 indecent images of children on a laptop he had access to at his old house, which he previously shared with his former partner at an address in St Andrews.
Aitkenhead, 58, was also placed on a supervision order and instructed to sign the sex offenders register for three years.
The first-time offender used a shared laptop to Google almost 1,050 vile images, 349 of them regarded as the most serious category A type.
Aitkenhead’s estranged wife was arrested following a tip-off images had been viewed on their shared Macbook computer.
The pair had separated in 2007, but remained on good terms, with Aitkenhead having unlimited access to the laptop and being allowed to visit the house whenever he needed.
Sentencing Aitkenhead, Sheriff Lorna Drummond said: “You have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, which I am taking into account.
“I also take into account the number of images, and that the majority of the images downloaded were of category C.
“It is quite clear to me you are someone who has never come to the attention of the court before and I have been made aware of your actions and steps you have taken to address this issue.
“I also can see from submitted letters that you are a committed family man.”
Aitkenhead, of Innerbridge Street, Guardbridge, Fife, pleaded guilty to downloading and possessing indecent images of children between January 2012 and September 2016 at Dundee Sheriff Court in June.
He further admitted to accessing extreme pornography at the same address in St Andrews between December 2012 and September 2016.
He was given a three-year supervision order and told to carry out 200 hours unpaid work, to be completed in nine months.
Further to this, he was placed under conditions requiring his supervision worker to approve his accommodation arrangements, barred from making contact with children under the age of 16 without supervision and required to register as a sex offender for three years.
Sheriff Drummond told Aitkenhead that if he failed to comply with his sentencing, he could be sent to jail.
