An Arbroath man found with more than 7,000 indecent images of children aged as young as five was placed on probation for three years.
Scott Simpson (32), of Lordburn, who originally appeared on an indictment, was also placed on the sex offenders register by Sheriff Kevin Veal at Arbroath for the same period of time.
His computer equipment, including a hard drive and four memory sticks, was also forfeited while a condition of his bail order included no internet access.
Simpson previously admitted possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between October 15 2010 and December 19 2011.
The court previously heard Simpson’s flatmate used his computer to listen to music and became curious at a folder named New Star Erin and New Star Cherry.
He clicked on the folder and immediately became aware of a large amount of photographs in the folder of girls aged between five and 12.
The majority of the pictures showed the girls in clothing and they were not touching themselves in any sexual manner.
However, he found the photos to be suggestive and provocative. Being disturbed by the images, the flatmate immediately contacted a mutual friend of him and Simpson.
He showed his friend what he had seen earlier. They both attended Arbroath police station and made a complaint.
A search warrant was granted and various items were taken, including memory sticks and a hard drive. They contained 7,187 live images and 49 live videos depicting erotic posing with no sexual activity at level one.
The videos had a running time of three hours and 51 minutes. There were also six live images at level two depicting sexual activities.
Deleted images were also found, including one at level four.
Defence agent Billy Rennie said the majority of the images were at level one, which was the least serious category.
Mr Rennie added that the images were for personal use, with no evidence of sharing.