Beast back behind bars

A paedophile who sexually abused a little girl in 1970, and who was also jailed for a year in 2014 for possessing child pornography, has pleaded guilty to having similar images while out on licence.

Douglas Blair, 63, of Gartlea, admitted downloading indecent images of children on his computer, which was seized for a full inspection by police in August.

An Airdrie paedophile who last year admitted sexually abusing a little girl in 1970, and who was also jailed for a year in 2014 for possessing child pornography, was back in court on Monday, having been found with similar images while out on licence.

Serial sex offender Douglas Blair, 63, of Tollbrae Avenue, Gartlea, previously pleaded guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court to the offence of taking or permitting to be taken or make indecent photographs of children at his then Irvine Street home in Glenmavis.

Police seized a PC, hard drive and laptop in July 2012.

The court heard that, following a forensic examination of the equipment, they found 26 moving images on the laptop, 19 of which were at level four and two at level five, the worst categories, as well as nine still images at the lower end of the scale.

At the time lawyer Craig Dewar said Blair was suffering from “physical sexual problems” which resulted in him searching for, then downloading and viewing, these images.

Blair was put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and was also placed on licence for a further 30 months on his release.

It was during this time, when police visited his home to inspect his computer in a random check, that his latest offence was revealed.

Blair was caught on August 2, having again downloaded images of young children, and will be sentenced next month.

Prosecutor Agnes Meek said police found 12 indecent images on his computer, which was seized by the cyber crime unit.

Sheriff Petra Collins called for an updated background report and risk assessment and remanded Blair in custody.

The paedophile has a previous conviction for carrying out a horrific attack on a four-year-old child when he was 17.