Invergordon man breached court order by downloading porn
A MAN who was convicted of downloading child porn breached court orders by copying explicit adult images on to his new smartphone, Tain Sheriff Court has heard.
Paul Richardson of Clyde Street, Invergordon was prosecuted in 2009 at Caernarvon Crown Court for downloading child pornography and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
He was made subject of a court order on terms of the Sex Offenders Act 2003 prohibiting him from accessing, downloading or viewing any pornographic site via the internet.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist told Richardson on Monday that any breach of such an order was a serious matter and he imposed 50 hours of community service.
Depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart told the sheriff that police visited Richardson’s home on March 17 to carry out checks on the accused.
They asked to examine his mobile phone and a number of adult pornographic images were found.
“The images were not of the same nature as the matter giving rise to his criminal conviction,” said the fiscal, who went on to tell the sheriff the downloaded pictures were of adults.
Richardson (36) told the police he had downloaded them. Sentence had been deferred until Monday for criminal justice social work reports.
Richardson’s solicitor Alison Foggo said the reports indicated there was not any need for additional supervision of Richardson.
She said the order had been imposed five years ago and it prohibited him from accessing any pornography on the internet.
But Ms Foggo said the order did not prohibit him from accessing adult pornography on video, DVD or published in magazines available from newsagents.
“So whatever the order prohibits in terms of internet access it does seem this was a technical breach,” said Ms Foggo, who added there may be scope for having the order reviewed.
Ms Foggo said Richardson was “committed” to complying with the order and police officers had indicated a degree of willingness to comply when he handed over his phone.
“He accepts he was foolish to download this on to his new phone. He was trying out the new enhanced ability of his smartphone,” said Ms Foggo.
She asked Sheriff Gilchrist to consider a community-based disposal on Richardson who is unemployed.
