Man banned from parks after child abuse images conviction
An Edinburgh man who was caught with a shocking haul of child abuse images has avoided a jail sentence but has been banned from attending children’s play parks.
Martin Millar, 66, claimed he posed no actual threat to children when police raided his home in connection with downloading the images, due to being impotent.
During the raid last April, Millar was found to have more than 75,000 images and videos stored on computer devices depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as two.
Millar, of Davidson’s Mains pleaded guilty to possessing the material when he appeared at the sheriff court last month before returned to the dock for sentencing.
Solicitor Euan Gosney, defending, previously told the court the offence his client had committed was “abhorrent” and the number of images was “clearly significant”. But the lawyer said Millar had suffered a mental health breakdown at the time of his offending and had since completed around 25 sessions with the sex offenders organisation Stop It Now.
Mr Gosney added a custodial sentence would “sever the work he is doing with a psychologist” and told the court he has the “continued support of his wife”.
Sheriff Alistair Noble acknowledged the majority of the images were rated as Category C and that Millar had been of “previous good character”. The sheriff said: “I am satisfied that this is a case where custody is not necessary.”
Millar was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and under the supervision of the social work department for three years.
He was also placed on a restriction of liberty order where he will have to wear an electronic tag and stay within his home between 9pm and 7am for the next 12 months.
The sheriff also imposed a conduct requirement where Millar is banned from attending at any children’s play parks and swing parks and cannot have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. He will also have to allow any internet accessing devices to be inspected on request.
Millar pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home between May 15, 2020 and April 6 last year.