A Fife paedophile who used anonymity software to access child sexual abuse material on the dark web has been jailed for more than 16 months.
David Gordon, from Leuchars, was caught with 146 indecent images of children as young as babies.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard that 13 files were category A type, the most obscene level.
When interviewed by police, he said he did “freelance digital forensics” for a living.
The 57-year-old returned to the dock for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to charges of taking or making and possessing indecent images of children between September 24 2020 and August 13 2022.
Anonymous communications
Sheriff Susan Duff told Gordon: “Your computer was set up with a virtual private network (VPN) to allow you to use the internet anonymously.
“Your computer was set up to access the dark web using a browser capable of accessing the Tor network, used for anonymous communication and viewing child exploitation and abuse material.
“It took place over an almost two-year period.”
The sheriff noted he had an analogous previous conviction.
“You have previously breached a court order in respect of that conviction,” she said.
“The author of a criminal justice social work report does not consider your risk could be managed safely in the community”.
Sheriff Duff jailed Gordon for 70 weeks.
He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
‘Digital forensics’
Prosecutor Sarah Wilkinson told the court that police interviewed Gordon after a separate allegation, no longer before the court.
Asked if indecent images would be found on his devices, he replied only adult porn.
He told police he does “freelance digital forensics” for a living, the fiscal said.
He said he has a diploma in digital forensics from Abertay University and a separate university degree.
Ms Wilkinson added: “He advised he had been teaching himself programming since about the age of 17.”
Defence counsel Louis Bendle had argued for a non-custodial sentence, pointing out that a social work report suggests Gordon would be suitable for the Moving Forward to Change programme to address sexual offending behaviour.
The lawyer said Gordon told him he had not engaged with the programme previously due to his poor mental health at the time but that this has “improved significantly” since and, if given the chance, he would comply.
Mr Bendle said Gordon, of Redcroft Place, is presently signed off work due to problems with his mental health and that 2007 was the last time he undertook work on a self employed basis.
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