A Fort William man who does charitable work in the local area was caught with more than 20,000 indecent images and video of children on his home computer.
Police received a tip off that led to a swoop on Alexander Farquhar’s Lundavra Road home, where an examination of his internet-enabled devices revealed a 10-year-long course of conduct that saw him accumulate a sickening stash of more than 20,000 stills and videos.
Farquhar, 65, previously appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted downloading the material between January 2010 and June 2020. In total, there were 20,514 images and 155 videos.
The court heard that the majority of them were of the lowest category ’C’, which largely covers erotic posing without sexual activity.
Sentence had been deferred for a background report before Farquhar returned to the dock this week to learn his fate.
Sheriff Gary Aitken criticised him for the attitude he had shown towards his offending, saying he seemed to lack understanding of the impact his crimes had on youngsters involved.
Defence solicitor advocate Clare Russell said: "He does charitable work in the local area, but not involving children.
"He is not in a position to give a satisfactory explanation. He started looking at adult pornography and then went down a rabbit hole that led to this.
"He clearly requires the Moving Forward Making Changes programme, which is for the specialist rehabilitation and education of sex offenders."
Sheriff Aitken replied: "It is a very large number."
He then told Farquhar: "Sitting in your home looking at indecent images of children is not a harmless hobby.
"It involves making money out of you and perpetuating the catastrophic abuse of children. The programme I am going to place you on may make you realise that the depths of your depravity is wrong."
The sheriff told Farquhar that he could send him to prison for a long period but had been "narrowly persuaded" to put him on the scheme in the hope that it would make him realise the impact his offending has had on children and stop him doing it in the future.
The lawman added: "If I impose a prison sentence, you may be released and just carry on what you were doing."
Farquhar was sentenced to the maximum 300 hours of unpaid community work and placed under social work supervision for three years. He has also been put on the Sex Offender’s Register for the same period.
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