March 2015

Aberdeen man jailed for downloading thousands of child abuse images

A former oil worker who downloaded more than 10,000 indecent images of children has been jailed for nine months.

Christopher Grant also gathered more than 60 hours of footage which showed youngsters being abused – because he suffered from “social isolation” and “sexual frustration”.

Grant, who until recently worked as a materials controller for an Aberdeen firm, appeared at the city’s sheriff court yesterday, after he admitted the charges at an earlier hearing.

The 31-year-old committed the offences over a period of seven weeks, between September 11 and October 29, 2013.

Fiscal depute Elaine Ward told the court police carried out a search warrant at 39 Braeside Terrace in Aberdeen – the home Grant shared with his parent – on October 30, 2013.

Officers seized a Dell laptop and hard drive from the house and Grant agreed to go to Queen Street police station, where he admitted downloading the illegal material.

Police later found 10,566 indecent images as well as 421 videos, running to 63 hours and 46 minutes, stored on the laptop’s hard drive.

Mrs Ward told the court most of the images were at level one – the lowest end of the scale.

However, 75 were classed as level five -the most serious grade – while 2,095 were level four and 2,138 level three.

Solicitor Shane Campbell said Grant – who had no previous convictions for similar offences – had downloaded the files because of feelings of “social isolation” and “sexual frustration”.

And he told the court his client had quit his job because he could not cope with the “stress” of the prosecution “hanging over his head”.

Mr Campbell stressed that Grant had insisted the images and videos were for “his own consumption” and had not shared any of them.

He also pointed out that Grant had not known the specific content of the files before he downloaded them – although he conceded that he was fully aware they would be illicit images.

Mr Grant said his client understood there was a high probability he would be given a custodial sentence – but appealed to the court to take into account the fact he had cooperated with the police throughout.

He added that Grant now had a “deep shame, that he feels not only for himself but more pertinently for his family.”

Mr Campbell said: “Clearly his involvement has turned not only his life on its head, but also the lives of those closest to him.

“It’s a matter he and his family will have to live with for a very long time.”

Jailing Grant for nine months, Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “This is a very serious case.

“Given the number of images, a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Grant was also placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years.

January 2015

Aberdeen man admits downloading thousands of child abuse image

A man has been warned he faces jail after downloading more than 10,000 child abuse images and almost 64 hours worth of footage of children being abused.

Christopher Grant took the illicit material from an online site while at his home in Aberdeen between September 11 and October 29, 2013.

Dozens of the pictures were rated “level 5″ by prosecutors – the most serious on the scale of child abuse images.

The subjects were mostly girls, ranging in age from as young as six months to 15 years.

When officers raided his house, Grant said the illegal material was his and that he was the only person responsible for the crime.

Yesterday the 31-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted a charge of making the indecent images or pseudo-images of children at 39 Braeside Terrace in the city.

He had been facing two further charges of having indecent images in his possession and distributing the images between December 29, 2011, and October 30, 2013. His not guilty pleas were accepted by the Crown.

Fiscal depute Gavin Letford said a search warrant was granted for Grant’s address on October 30, 2013.

During the raid officers recovered a Dell laptop computer and a hard drive.

Grant was then taken to Queen Street police station to be interviewed where he told officers he had been downloading the illegal images via a peer-to-peer website.

Analysis of the computer equipment found 10,566 child abuse images on his laptop and videos totalling 64 hours and 47 minutes.

Mr Letford said “the majority” of the images were at level one – the lowest end of the scale – however 75 were classed as level five, 295 were at level four and 2,138 were classed as level three.

Most of the videos were between levels one and four with seven films at level five.

The court heard the illicit images found on the hard drive depicted girls aged between four and nine.

Sheriff William Summers deferred sentence on Grant for background reports to be carried out into his character, but told his solicitor, Gail Goodfellow: “I find it hard to see how he can avoid a custodial sentence.”

Grant was placed on the sex offenders’ register and will be sentenced next month.