Inverness sheriff’s ‘heart sinks’ over ‘horrific’ child abuse images downloaded and shared by Black Isle teenager
A teenager who downloaded and shared "horrific images" of children including babies being sexually abused confessed to police that he was "addicted to pornography" and wanted help.
Calum Simpson, of Muirton Road, Tore on the Black Isle, had previously admitted possessing hundreds of videos and still images of children and babies being abused and sentence had been deferred for a background report.
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Inverness Sheriff Court had earlier heard that Simpson (18) had also told police he had no attraction to children.
The court was told he told police after a search warrant of his house revealed his perverted collection that he found the images of children "arousing due to the taboo nature of the activity."
Fiscal depute Emily Hood said he initially denied to police that he used Snapchat for his illegal activity, claiming his phone had been hacked.
But outwith the presence of his father, he then confessed: "I have got an addiction to pornography that's really bad and I need help."
He pleaded guilty to downloading the indecent images, which included 219 of the most serious kind and 121 videos which were created between May 3, 2020 and June 26, 2024.
On June 24 and 25 last year he sent five videos to other users including one of a baby being abused.
Other imagery included children and babies under the age of 12.
At a previous hearing Simpson had been warned by Sheriff Sara Matheson to get a bag ready for detention, but in the event, this week Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald refrained from sending him down.
Instead she ordered him to remain under three years of social work supervision and to take part in the Moving Forward to Change programme, which is designed to re-educate people like Simpson.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same period.
He was told by Sheriff Macdonald: "My heart sinks when I see young people like you in court for these type of offences. Some of the images were horrific and upsetting, even just hearing them being described.
"You need to understand why society views these images as being so very wrong. You need help to make you understand."
