An Arbroath pensioner caught with indecent images of children has been spared jail.
James Mesney, 66, of Culloden Crescent, appeared for sentence at Forfar Sheriff Court on Thursday having previously admitted possessing photographs and video at his home address between June 2013 and last November.
The court earlier heard that more than 120 category A videos and images were found across three computing devices after police carried out a search at the property.
Mesney admitted he had been looking at adult material and that had then brought up a site with young people, leading on to indecent child images.
He admitted downloading videos and said he had looked at them three or four times before deleting them.
They involved both male and female children as young as six years old.
Mesney admitted to police his actions had been a “bad error of judgment”.
Analysis by police found that peer-to-peer software and cleaning software had also been used on his computer.
Defence solicitor Ian Flynn said Mesney was a first offender who had admitted immediately when police arrived at his home that he was responsible.
He also highlighted the fact that almost none of the files were left on the computer to be accessible, having been deleted by the accused.
Mr Flynn told the court the accused was the sole carer for his son and the pair of them lived a very quiet life, rarely going out.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio described the offence as a “very serious matter”.
He imposed a three-year Community Payback Order on Mesney which will include a supervision requirement, as well as participation in the Tay Project for sex offenders.
Restrictions on the accused will include a ban on accessing the internet in any way without the approval of supervising officers or having unsupervised contact with youngsters.
Mesney will also have his name added to the sex offenders register for the duration of the CPO.