Primary school support worker who traded child abuse videos is jailed

A primary school support worker who traded videos of children being abused to keep perverts talking in internet chat rooms has been jailed for 40 months.

Stuart Allison, 44, was involved in the trade while he was working with vulnerable children as young as eight in a classroom setting.

Perth Sheriff Court heard he had been downloading child abuse material for 12 years before his activities were brought to a halt by the police.

Allison, of Trinafour, Perthshire, admitted that between September 2004 and November 2016 he took, or permitted to be taken and possessed indecent photographs of children.

He also admitted distributing or showing indecent images of children between August 2015 and May 2016.

When officers raided Allison’s home they discovered seven internet-enabled devices. Indecent material was found on every one of them.

He has now been placed on the sex offenders register for “an indefinite period”.

As he appeared for sentencing, laden with bags filled with his belongings, Allison accepted he had been guilty of serious offences, committed over many years but said the number of images was “not the greatest the court would ever have seen”.

Allison also claimed he had “seen the error of his ways”.

Solicitor John Mclaughlin said his client was “terrified” by the prospect of imprisonment, but Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Allison: “All of those videos distributed to others were at the highest end.

“Custody is the only appropriate disposal.”

A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said: “No pupils from any Perth and Kinross school have been identified as part of the investigation.”

Stuart Allison.