Court / Prison term for man who possessed indecent images of children

A MAN whose possession of indecent photographs of children came to light in an unannounced visit to his home by police officers has been given a 16-month prison term.

David William Bruce, whose address was given as Grampian Prison, was found to have hundreds of “category C” images – the least severe type of  photos – on a mobile phone.

Lerwick Sheriff Court also heard on Wednesday that the background image of the phone’s screensaver was of a young girl.

The 61-year-old appeared from custody at the court via video link to admit possessing the images at an address in Lerwick and elsewhere between 25 September and 18 October last year.

The court heard that Bruce had previously been given a prison sentence in 2018 for a similar matter.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the latest incident came to light when officers from the sex offending policing unit undertake a routine, unannounced check on Bruce as part of the conditions of his past conviction.

The court heard that Bruce quickly shut a bedroom door when walking with two officers in the house.

Mackenzie said Bruce was “clearly uneasy and nervous” in the presence of the police.

He was asked to retrieve his phone, but when he handed it over a video was seen to disappear from the screen.

The court heard that Bruce did not sufficiently explain the video, and his “unease and nervousness increased”.

Upon closer inspection there were tabs on the screen of the phone suggesting pornography. The court heard Bruce was asked about this, and he said it was “families and stuff like that”.

Police seized the phone, as well as another mobile, and upon analysis found 127 accessible indecent images and 92 inaccessible photos on one.

There were a total of 553 “indicative images” – photos that the crown cannot conclude are indecent images.

The second device had no indecent images but contained search terms relating to young girls.

Defence agent Tommy Allan conceded that there was “perhaps not a great deal I can say about this”, partly given Bruce’s previous conviction.

He said his client described himself as a “bit of a loner” with limited social contact.

Allan said Bruce found it “difficult to resist temptation” to explore images on his phone.

But he said the 61-year-old was well aware of the consequences of doing so.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said under sentencing guidelines the number and category of images would not necessarily result in a prison sentence.

But he said given the previous conviction there was no alternative to custody.

He noted that Bruce would have left custody on the previous matter in July last year, shortly before the latest offence.

The 16-month prison sentence was backdated to when Bruce first entered custody in October.

He was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements for a decade. Sheriff Cruickshank also granted forfeiture of the phones seized.