A gas engineer caught with a vile stash of images and videos depicting harrowing acts of child abuse and bestiality was jailed for 18 months.
James Small had almost 52 hours of sickening video footage on his home computer, which he was found to have been sharing with other internet users.
As he ordered Small to be led away to the cells at Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said the reaction of any normal person to the images would be one of revulsion.
“No child should be forced to carry out and perform acts such as these. It is people like you who download and distribute these images that provide encouragement for those who coerce young children, be they male or female, into these acts.”
Small’s actions came to light when police officers staged an early morning raid upon the 40-year-old’s home in Longforgan in June.
Depute fiscal Charmaine Gilmartin told the court: “Between May 2009 and June 2012, there had been searches for indecent images and videos.
“The indecent images were mainly of young adult homosexual pornography and also indecent images of children. These had been downloaded and viewed and there was also evidence that the video images had been distributed to others.”
The court was told that officers had found 28 images, together with 138 videos, the majority of which showed children being seriously sexually assaulted by adults. Some of the footage also involved animals.
Small, of Wallace Brae, Longforgan, admitted being involved in the distribution of indecent images between May 1 2009 and June 14 2012. He also admitted two charges relating to possession of indecent images during the same time period.
Solicitor Cliff Culley said his client had intended the images and video for his own use only but accepted they were available to anyone through file sharing software Small used on his home computer.
“He is very regretful of his actions and has cooperated fully with the police, with social workers and with the Tay project,” he added.
Small was told by Sheriff Foulis that, given the nature of the footage, the length of the video and that he had admitted distributing the images, a custodial sentence was appropriate.
He further ordered that the accused be under licence for 12 months upon his release. He will be on the sex offenders register for the duration of the extended sentence.