A paedophile has been put back on the Sex Offenders Register after a jury found he had stashed sick child abuse files on his phone.
Liam Cunningham will be sentenced in December.
Having denied he possessed and took or made indecent images of children, jurors at Forfar Sheriff Court convicted the 25-year-old after a three-day trial.
Cunningham must comply with notification requirements again, having been placed on the Register for three years in 2018.
That was for sexually assaulting four boys, all under the age of 13, at various locations in Fife.
Trial
Police were granted a warrant to search Cunningham’s phone from Dundee Sheriff Court on October 27 2021.
Officers arrived at his home in Jamieson Close in Cupar‘s Crossgate the following morning at 8.55am.
They were granted access by Cunningham and seized a HTC Desire 530 mobile phone from the arm of a chair in the living room.
Following a three-day trial, jurors unanimously found Cunningham possessed abuse material between March and October in 2021.
The majority of jurors also agreed that he took or made the vile material on dates between March and June of 2021.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael ordered background reports and continued Cunningham’s bail.
Cunningham will be sentenced on December 19.
History of paedophilia
In 2018, Cunningham was convicted at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court of sexually assaulting four boys under the age of 13.
Then aged 19, Cunningham narrowly dodged imprisonment after targeting his young victims in Leven and Kennoway between 2014 and 2017.
When he was sentenced, he showed no emotion but the mother of one of his victims punched the glass surrounding the dock.
She screamed: “You’re a f****** paedo. My son tried to kill himself because of you,” before running from the court in tears.
On that occasion, Cunningham was blasted by the Sheriff for refusing to accept his guilt.
The pervert was placed under supervision for three years and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for the same time period.
He was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.
His defence advocate told the court his client had a “miserable existence” before the offences were committed and had struggled with his sexuality.
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