Local man in court facing new charges tied to child porn

In 2017, Douglas Stanley Urquhart told a Saskatoon provincial courtroom that he downloaded child abuse images out of curiosity while he was lonely and depressed.

The 279 images and 10 videos police found on his computer in 2015 showed the sexual abuse of preteen girls — some as young as toddlers — by adult men, according to the facts presented at Urquhart's sentencing hearing.

He pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography and was sentenced to 16 months in jail followed by a probation period of three years.

In a news release on Tuesday, the Saskatchewan internet Child Exploitation

(ICE) Unit announced Urquhart, 59, had been arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of possessing child porn.

An investigation into child exploitation that began in November 2023 led to a search warrant being executed at a home in the RM of Blucher, east of Saskatoon, on Feb. 1, according to the release.

Urquhart's devices were seized and searched. Police said he was released after making his first court appearance. The court confirmed he appeared on Friday.

His next scheduled court appearance is May 14.

In 2014, police tracked child abuse images on a file sharing website to Urquhart's IP address. At the time of his arrest, he told police he liked “adolescent nudity” and fantasized about girls around 12 and 13 years old. Court heard the most common age reference in the files he kept was 11 years old.

During sentencing, Judge Shannon Metivier ruled Urquhart's moral blameworthiness was diminished due to his own childhood abuse and the stress he was under at the time of the offence. Court heard his daughter had died, his mother had a stroke and he lost his job.

“I made a bad mistake,” he told court.