Child abuse image fiend banned from going near kids

A depraved pervert snared with images of young children being sexually abused has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Ethan Bain, 21, had almost 90 indecent photos and videos of youngsters being violated stashed on his devices when cops raided his home in Paisley’s Castlehead area.

The town’s sheriff court heard depraved Bain had one 48-minute film that showed girls aged between six and 10 being seriously sexually assaulted.

He appeared in the dock for sentencing on Thursday before Sheriff Seith Ireland after pleading guilty to a charge of being in possession of indecent images of children or pseudophotographs of children between November 15, 2018 and May 2 last year.

The court had called for background reports on Bain before deciding how to deal with the case, which had been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Procurator fiscal depute Keri Marshall had told the court cops armed with a search warrant raided the house

Ba i n lives with his grandparents and police seized a Samsung mobile phone and a Novo tablet.

She said: “Seventy- eight unique still child exploitation images were found on the mobile phone – 16 were category A, 15 category B and 47 category C.

“Two moving images were found in the recycle bin of this device.

“An example is a 48-minute long category A moving image that shows graphic sexual abuse of young children aged six to ten.”

She added: “A cyber crime examination of the Novo tablet found eight still child exploitation images, all category B.

“They feature children aged eight to 12 years.

“A category B moving image was also found. This will have been created on this device.”

Defence agent Gemma Elder said her client, who has struggled with mental health issues and had been diagnosed with autism, realised the severity of his crimes.

However, she urged the court to spare him jail, saying: “He is a 21- year- old man who is vulnerable in his own right.”

She added: “Options such as programme and conduct requirements, with close supervision, are available to prevent his further offending.”

Sheriff Ireland told him: “These cases are regrettably coming before the courts with increasing frequency, because of the diligence of the authorities and their technical abilities.

“However, these are not victimless crimes.

“They feature photographs of children, male and female, who are being subject to the most depraved treatment.

“And it a serious offence which requires to be marked by the courts in the public interest.”

He placed Bain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for three years, banned him from using any internet device without obtaining prior permission and placed him under mandatory supervision of the local authority, also for three years.

He also banned him from having contact with any child aged 17 or under for the same period and placed him on the Moving Forward, Making Changes programme, which works with sex offenders in Renfrewshire.

They feature photographs of children who are being subject to the most depraved treatment