An Angus paedophile collected sick child abuse images “like they were stickers for a Panini football album.”
A sheriff compared Grant Ross to a sticker or stamp collector for the way he downloaded and stored images of infants as young as two being sexually abused.
Vile Ross told police who raided his home, “I admit I’ve been doing stuff” and later told social workers “most people do it.”
Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith said: “You were downloading, whether to obtain sexual gratification or to collect them like you were collecting stamps and that creates a market which perpetuates gross violence and abuse of those children.
“What you engaged in was similar to someone collecting cigarette cards or Panini stickers.
“You were engaged in making a collection. It is not clear if it was for your sexual gratification or not.”
Victims of organised crime
The sheriff added: “He didn’t show any remorse.
“He was unable to convey any understanding of the impact his behaviour would have on the victims and he said ‘most people do it.’
“The images he downloaded showed children aged from infants to those 14 years old.
“They were real people. These infants and children generally come from the most impoverished parts of the world.
“They are victims of organised criminals who often buy parents’ silence and commit these horrendous acts on children and film them for financial gain.
“You are part and parcel of the cycle which causes lifelong harm to these children.
“It is a serious matter for which I have been considering imprisonment.”
Ross, 65, of Carnoustie, was placed under social work supervision and on the sex offenders register for 12 months.
He was also made subject to conduct requirements limiting his internet usage.
‘Keeps himself to himself’
The court heard police raided the Angus home Ross shares with his 97-year-old mother.
A laptop seized from his bedroom was forensically analysed and an initial haul of around 200 files was uncovered.
More digging uncovered hundreds more child abuse files, including images of infants.
Unemployed Ross pled guilty to two charges – taking or making indecent images of children at his home between October 6 2021 and October 24 2022 and possessing the sick files from the first download date until the October 27 raid 2023.
Full analysis found 1,761 twisted images existed on the computer, with nearly 500 of them in the most graphic category featuring child rape.
Solicitor Grant Bruce, defending his client – who was convicted of indecent exposure and an indecent breach of the peace in 1989 – said: “He keeps himself to himself.
“He understands and appreciates the seriousness of this.”
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