Six-year jail term for Arbroath man caught with abuse images

A repeat sex offender who downloaded a stash of child abuse images on his mother’s laptop has been jailed for six years.

James Stewart had escaped prison on an identical charge just months before creating a new horde of indecent images of children.

Police working on a tip-off raided his flat in Dundee and his mother’s home in Arbroath.

They found images stored on a hard drive and an iPad, as well as a computer belonging to Stewart’s mother.

He has now been handed an extended jail term after a sheriff told him he had “completely subverted” a three-year community order he was placed on in early 2015.

Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The accused is a repeat offender and a registered sex offender.

“On November 19 2015 police received intelligence that a device connected to the internet had been downloading indecent images of children.

Child abuse images – some at the most serious level – were discovered on a PC tower and a hard drive as well as videos running to five hours and 49 minutes.

Stewart, 42, of Strathairlie Avenue, Arbroath, pled guilty on indictment to downloading indecent images of children in October and November 2015.

Defence solicitor David Sinclair said: “He is living with his mother now.

“He’s aware he appears on a serious matter and he has breached his previous court orders as a result.”

Sheriff George Way revoked the community payback order imposed on Stewart for his original offence and jailed him for three years on that charge.

He further imposed a six-year extended sentence on Stewart, with three years to be served in prison and three on licence, over the new offences.

The sheriff said: “This is utterly unacceptable and disgusting behaviour, he basically went behind the court’s back and did it again.”