An Angus man who downloaded indecent child images on his home computer has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Neil Pattie, from Monifieth, was found to possess 390 images, predominantly of boys aged between one and 15 years, after police searched his home on a tip-off.
He appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at home between November 29 2010 and March 21 2014.
The 69-year-old’s home was searched on March 25 last year after the police received information that he had downloaded indecent images.
The accused admitted possessing them.
The court heard a Dell desktop computer was seized and sent to the cybercrimes unit in Dundee for forensic examination.
He confirmed using a credit card to download films from a website but thought they were legal as there was a disclaimer on the website to that effect.
He denied downloading the 360 images for gratification.
Defending Pattie, solicitor George Donnelly said there were a “small number of images” and his client had already taken steps to confront his addiction.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said: “In this case, because you have taken steps yourself, I can deal with this by way of a community payback order.”
Pattie was given 200 hours of unpaid work, to be undertaken within two years, and was placed on the sex offenders register for two years, backdated to February 4.