Pervert who hoarded vile images of child abuse dodges prison

Cops found stash of depraved videos in fiend’s attic

A deviant who downloaded indecent images of children being sexually abused has been spared jail.

Creep Paul Goretti, 50, previously admitted hoarding almost 50 videos and images of youngsters being violated on two hard disks hidden in his attic.

He returned to Paisley Sheriff Court to learn his fate this week, and was placed on a probation order.

Sheriff James Spy also ordered him to take part in a specialist programme for sex offenders and to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.

On passing sentence, Sheriff Spy said: “I feel it is in the best interest to provide some supervision and control here.”

The court had previously heard the pervert claimed he was into porn and trawled adult sites on the internet for kicks when he was drunk in the evenings.

Goretti also claimed he just started “clicking on links” on adult sex sites, which led him to accessing banned paedophilia, including photos and video clips of young girls aged between three and 13.

Fiscal depute Fiona Holligan said: “The locus for the offence is the accused’s two- bedroom home, which is where the indecent images were found in the loft area of the house.

“Po l i c e had rec e i v e d information which caused them to seek a search warrant, which they executed on March 21, when they visited his home and spoke to his partner, as he was not present.

“They contacted him by phone and carried out a systematic search, where three hard disks were recovered from the loft.”

Police sent the devices away for forensic examination which confirmed two hard disks contained 46 indecent images and videos of youngsters, including one video at category A – the worst level of classification; two photos at category B and the remaining images were category C.

The fiscal added that when Goretti was arrested, he admitted he “had been downloading something” when he was drunk and claimed he “hadn’t been thinking straight”.

Goretti said his partner knew nothing about what he was up to on his computer and admitted he “felt ashamed and disgusted with himself”.

Goretti, of Brisbane Road, Bishopton, pleaded guilty to charges of taking or permitting to be taken indecent photographs of children between June 1999 and March 2017. The former computer specialist was also placed on the sex offenders register for three years.

Children’s charity NSPCC Scotland welcomed the sentence.

A spokesman said: “Goretti accessed and stored a number of depraved images. Behind every one was a real child suffering appalling abuse and his actions have only fuelled the demand for this sickening material to be produced.

“Possessing images of child abuse must not be tolerated. But it is vital that tech companies, law enforcement and government work together to prevent this vile material being published and circulated in the first place.”