A Stirling man was last week jailed for a year and four months for downloading child abuse images.
Alistair Macleod had admitted charges of possessing and downloading the indecent images between July 1, 2018, and September 25, 2020 at his Cowane Street home.
The 43-year-old had appeared for sentence at Stirling Sheriff Court last Wednesday.
His lawyer told Sheriff Keith O’Mahony that the offences were carried out by Macleod, who lives on his own, in private and he “fully acknowledges it was wrong”.
Following his arrest Macleod contacted the Stop It Now child protection charity to seek help.
A report prepared for the court, the lawyer said, mentioned “extreme social isolation” as the cause of Macleod’s conduct.
He also pointed out that Macleod was “not a hardened individual” and was “very frightened of prison”.
The defence agent further said that Macleod had demonstrated “a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation” and had shown “a clear element of remorse”.
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The report had suggested a community payback order as an alternative to custody – and restrictions could be placed on his internet use.
The lawyer further pointed to the Moving Forward Making Changes sex offenders’ programme which would require the accused to be under supervision for three years.
However, Sheriff O’Mahony said he had to balance what had been said on his behalf in mitigation against the serious nature of the offences – particularly the nature and number of images.There was no alternative, he added, to a custodial disposal.
He sentenced Macleod to 16 months’ reduced from 24 to reflect the early guilty plea and placed him on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.
