June 2019

Kelso man fined for indecent downloads

A 54-year-old man who admitted possessing indecent images of children and bestiality videos has been ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.

James Ascroft pleaded guilty to the offences which happened at his home at Harpertoun Cottage near Kelso, in September 2017.

A previous court hearing was told that that officers at the cyber crime unit received information in December 2016 that a device associated with his home address was accessing indecent images.

Officers searched the home and 40 devices were seized and removed from the house for examination.

Unlawful material was discovered on five of them.

Of the 20,000 pornographic images and videos found, 136 were found to be unlawful.

Regarding the indecent images of children, two were found to be in the most serious Category A and two in Category B.

One Category C movie and 102 images were recovered.

In addition, there were 29 extreme pornographic videos featuring bestiality involving sexual intercourse between a person and an animal.

Following the examination of hard drives seized from his home, officers attended at Ascroft’s home address on May last year.

Ascroft’s lawyer said his client had no idea how he came into possession of the images.

He explained that when he had been downloading lawful material en-masse from the internet the unlawful material must have been included, explaining that he found the material “abhorrent”.

The lawyer added that Ascroft did not realise possessing the bestiality videos was illegal.

Sheriff Donald Ferguson told Ascroft: “This is indeed a serious matter.”

Ascroft was also placed on supervision for 24 months as part of a community pay back order and his name placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a similar period.

April 2019

Indecent images of children and bestiality videos found at 54-year-old’s home near Ednam

A 54-year-old man has had his name put on the sex offenders’ register at Jedburgh Sheriff Court after admitting possessing indecent images of children and bestiality videos.

James Ascroft pleaded guilty to committing those offences at his home near Ednam in September 2017.

Nicole Lavelle, prosecuting, said that officers at Police Scotland’s cyber-crime unit received information in December 2016 that a device associated with Ascroft’s home address was accessing indecent images.

Officers then searched his home, and 40 devices were seized and taken away for examination, unlawful material later being discovered on five of them.

The fiscal added that of the 20,000 pornographic images and videos found, 136 were found to be unlawful.

Two of the indecent images of children were found to be in the most serious category A and two in category B.

One category-C movie and 102 images were also recovered.

On top of that, 29 extreme pornographic videos were found featuring bestiality.

Following examination of hard drives seized from his home, officers returned there in May last year.

He made no reply to being cautioned and gave a no-comment interview at Hawick police station.

Sheriff Derrick McIntyre deferred sentence until June 10 for the production of a criminal justice social work report but ordered that Ascroft’s name go on the sex offenders’ register in the meantime.