A paedophile pensioner broke a strict court order by leaving the UK without telling police – just days after he was hit with a £10,000 fine for amassing a sick stash of child abuse material.
James Sneddon stockpiled obscene photos and videos for more than a decade at his home in Milnathort.
The 72-year-old has had to put the £320,000 property on the market to pay the “significant financial penalty” handed down to him at a sentencing hearing on October 30.
Less than two weeks later, on November 12, Sneddon jetted off to the Netherlands without first alerting authorities.
He returned to the dock this week and admitted breaching the terms of his sex offender notification requirements.
‘Functioning well enough for holiday’
Fiscal depute Jill Drummond confirmed Sneddon had been handed a leaflet outlining his legal obligations.
This included the need to tell Police Scotland of any plans to leave the country, at least seven days before departure.
“On November 18, the accused attended at Perth police station to notify that he had returned to Scotland from a trip to Amsterdam,” she said.
He confirmed he flew out six days earlier.
Representing himself in the dock, Sneddon said he went to police as soon as he could “to notify them that I had broken the rules.”
He said: “I haven’t been at my best, mentally.
“I was in such a bad state that I wasn’t functioning very well.”
Sheriff Simon Collins KC interjected: “You were functioning well enough to go on holiday.”
“That was arranged for me,” Sneddon replied.
The sheriff said he was concerned about people on such orders repeatedly “pushing the boundaries” to see how much they can get away with.
“It’s not my intention to push the boundaries,” said Sneddon.
“Things are much better now. I have sought the help that I need.”
The sheriff told Sneddon he was “very fortunate” not to have been jailed for the index offence and fined him a further £350.
Police raid
The court previously heard how Police Scotland was tipped off about potential indecent material being downloaded to devices at Sneddon’s Glebe Crescent home.
Officers armed with a search warrant went to the address on May 15 2023.
When they explained why they were there, Sneddon said: “Yes, you’ll find stuff on my computer.”
He stressed that his partner “had nothing to do with it”.
In front of police, he told her: “I don’t know why but I was trying to hurt myself.
“It wasn’t to hurt you. It was self-destructive.”
A total of 470 indecent files were recovered by police.
The court heard 71 files were described as category A on the obscenity scale which featured children aged between four and 15.
There were 55 category B files, with children as young as two, and 334 at category C.
Many deleted files were recovered from the trash part of his computer.
Sneddon was fined £10,000 and placed on the sex offenders register for five years when he appeared before Sheriff Lindsay Foulis in October.
The sheriff rejected a suggestion of imposing a curfew, saying it would not be appropriate to order someone who had downloaded child abuse materials to stay at home for 12 hours a day.
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