Court / Lerwick man admits child pornography charges

A TWENTY nine year old man who took video footage of himself viewing child pornography on his computer has had sentence deferred for a criminal justice report.

Nathan Bryant, of Lerwick’s Burnside, admitted taking or permitting to be taken indecent photographs of children at his home address between June 2014 and September 2020.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday that cyber crime analysis had uncovered several images and videos on two devices.

One seven-minute video had been taken using screen recording software and showed Bryant accessing a “large number” of indecent images of children being abused.

The video he made fell under category A images depicting penetrative sexual activity involving minors. One category B image, depicting non-penetrative sexual activity, and several category C images, depicting erotic posing, were also discovered.

Some of the children appeared to be “only one or two years old”, the fiscal added.

Mackenzie said it was clear from the video that Bryant was “proactively seeking the material”, contrary to a “bizarre explanation” that he had granted others access to view his computer remotely and initially maintained he had no interest in accessing material of such a nature.

When he was arrested, Bryant had also claimed to police that he had accessed the websites “inadvertently” and his computer had “automatically downloaded” some images.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client was aware of the consequences of the offence he had pleaded guilty to.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank granted a crown motion for forfeiture of the devices and continued Bryant’s bail while reports are prepared.

He also made Bryant subject to notification requirements under sexual offences legislation and deferred sentence until 7 March.

If you have been affected by sexual violence, support is available. Contact The Compass Centre 9am-1.30pm Mon-Thurs on 01595 747 174 or email contact@compasscentre.org