A Tayside bus driver who got a “buzz” from viewing indecent images of infants has avoided a jail term.
Ronald Young was snared as part of a Metropolitan Police operation into his alleged involvement in a grooming offence, which led to police uncovering almost 40 images of children, from infants to teenagers, on a laptop at his home.
Young, of Westwood Walk, Montrose, appeared before Sheriff Kevin Veal at Forfar on Thursday having previously admitted an indictment alleging that between February 16 and 18 last year, at a house in an Angus village, he took or permitted to be taken, or made indecent photos or pseudo photos of children.
The court previously heard that Young was arrested at his workplace and then taken home, where computer equipment was seized and subsequently examined by police.
He told officers he had gone on to eastern European websites after talking to others in online chatrooms and said he got a “buzz” from “well taken pictures.”
Web pages which 60-year-old Young had visited were re-built by experts, who were able to uncover terms such as “jailbait girls” and “primary school girls”.
A total of 39 images were found, 38 categorised at level one and one at the more serious level four status.
Young’s solicitor told the court her client had been open and honest with social workers about not only the offence for which he had been charged but also his behaviour in chatrooms and other matters.
Sheriff Veal said that a lack of record and the sentencing guidelines meant the offence could be dealt with by way of a non-custodial sentence and imposed a three-year Community Payback Order, including 150 hours of unpaid work, to be completed within a year.
The sheriff also ordered Young to be placed on the sex offenders register for the term of the CPO and applied a string of conditions to prevent him from having any contact with under-16s.
Young, whose marriage broke down when the offence came to light, must not use public transport without prior approval of supervising social workers or enter school or nursery grounds, parks or play areas.
He is also banned from using the internet without approval or involving himself in any hobbies which may bring him into contact with under-16s, and must not contact any known sex offenders.