Beast forced to move
Pervert can’t live at same address as paedophile pal
MIKE MCQUAID
An East Kilbride man has been forced to move house after he and his best pal were caught with indecent images of children.
Craig Welsh and Mark Williamson were each put on the Sex Offenders Register for two years in separate cases at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The pair, along with Williamson’s girlfriend, were living in Maxwellton Road.
But sex offenders on the register are not allowed to live together, so Welsh has had to find new accommodation.
In May this year Williamson, 28, was given a two-year supervision order after admitting downloading and possessing 5000 images of child porn on devices at his home.
The sick pervert avoided jail, despite telling cops it looked like some of the children ‘enjoyed’ being abused.
He was put on the Sex Offenders Register for the length of the order and banned from owning any device with internet access.
Police uncovered the vile material when they raided a property in Blantyre.
The men were both charged with having illicit material on their computer equipment.
Welsh, 30, blamed Williamson for the offences and went to trial last month, but a jury convicted him of downloading and possessing child porn.
When he appeared for sentence on Monday, defence agent Luke O’Curry stressed his client maintains his innocence.
He pointed out the number of images attributed to Welsh was “significantly fewer” than those linked to his friend, and said Welsh had already suffered because of the Sex Offenders Register rules, having had to previously move twice.
Welsh admitted a separate charge of having an air rifle and pellets without a licence.
Sheriff Daniel Kelly put Welsh on supervision for two years in relation to the kid porn charges, imposing stringent conditions on his future internet use.
Welsh was told he must do 75 hours of unpaid community work in relation to the air rifle charge. The weapon and pellets were confiscated.
The news comes just a week after we reported how a pensioner’s house was wrongly targeted in a vigilante paedophile attack Terrified AGAINST Williamson.
Gran-of-four Sandra Walker, 75, was left petrified after the word ‘BEAST’ was daubed across her front window at the weekend.
She feared attacks against the beast could escalate, fearing her house could even be firebombed.