SHERIFF COURT Porn offender must undergo rehabilitation

A man with “an itinerant lifestyle” appeared before the May sitting of Campbeltown Sheriff Court charged with possessing more than 100 pornographic images plus videos.

Roy Howe, aged 34, had previously pleaded guilty to taking, or permitting to be taken, indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children, between July 5 2020 and February 15 2021 while living at an address on Queen Street, Campbeltown. Howe’s defence agent said the man also lived in Inverness and was now living in the Highlands area.

The images ranged across all three categories of offence plus two video offences of the highest A class offence.

Reports on Howe had been prepared before his sentencing. Defence agent Paul Keenan said in mitigation that the report showed “a remarkable amount of contrition and suggested insight”. “I have never seen anyone so accepting they had such a problem; he acknowledged that he had a problem,” said Mr Keenan. “Prosecution came as a relief to him; this is something he wishes to remove from his life.”

Sheriff Donald Ferguson said: “Without a shadow of doubt, this case crosses the custodial threshold.”

The sheriff placed Howe on a community payback order with a supervision order for three years and he must complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community within 12 months. During the order, Howe must participate in the Moving Forward: Making Changes course, a groupbased treatment programme for sex offenders.

He is also the subject of a long list of rules governing his contact with under-18s, internet use and what internet connected devices and credit cards he may own and where he lives, as laid down by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2019. The sheriff said: “If you fail to carry out any aspect of the order you will immediately be brought to court.”