Court / Man sentenced on indecent images charges
A SEVENTY five year old man from Lerwick who admitted possessing more than 600 indecent images of children has been placed under a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.
Brian Laing, of Staney Hill, was also placed under supervision for three years.
Lerwick Sheriff Court previously heard that the offences came to light after Laing returned a laptop computer to a local computer dealer and swapped it for a different model.
Staff came across suspicious search engine entries while cleaning the laptop and the police were alerted who subsequently searched Laing’s home address.
More than 600 images and six videos were found, mainly of girls aged five and younger.
Police became aware of a second offence when Laing was seen buying a mobile phone.
Laing previously pleaded guilty to taking or permitting to be taken indecent photographs of children at his home and elsewhere between 6 November 2015 and 3 November 2022, and to be in possession of indecent photographs of children between 19 November 2019 and 2 January 2023.
The offences were committed whilst Laing was on bail.
At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the crown was calling for a sexual harm prevention order against Laing, given his previous convictions.
He said recent convictions included a directly analogous offence.
“These are not victimless offences,” Mackenzie added – saying the demand for images creates victims.
The fiscal also said Laing could be described as a “dedicated and unapologetic paedophile”.
This was a characterisation that defence agent Tommy Allan, speaking on behalf of Laing, disputed.
But he said he could not argue with the prospective conditions of a sexual harm prevention order.
Allan added that it was fair to say in mitigation that compared to other cases which have been dealt with by the court – sometimes involving thousands of photos – the amount of images was, relatively speaking, not particularly high.
He said that troubles in his client’s personal life, allied with alcohol, meant that Laing found it hard to manage his “worst impulses”.
The court was told that Laing was now “frail” and questions were raised over the suitability of custody, as well as unpaid work.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank also noted that the offence is “not a victimless crime”.
“It leads to the abuse of countless victims,” he said.
Taking everything into account, the sheriff imposed a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.
This mainly places restrictions on Laing owning and using devices with access the internet.
The court heard that it is similar to bail conditions Laing had been placed under.
Laing was also placed under supervision for three years and made subject to sex offenders’ register notification requirements for the same time period.
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