A young man has been placed under supervision after he was caught with images of child sex abuse on his phone.
Kerr McGettigan was snared when Paisley cops received information he had downloaded indecent images of young kids onto his iPhone.
The now 22-year-old was caught with a sickening variety of Category A, B and C images and videos in his possession after claiming he “fell into criminality” on the internet when he was 18.
Procurator fiscal depute Matt Piskorz previously told Paisley Sheriff Court: “In June 2023, the public protection unit in Paisley received intelligence that, on January 6, 2022, within an address in Dennistoun Road, Langbank, images depicting child sexual abuse material were downloaded from the internet.
“This was through a Discord account with the email address and mobile number account belonging to the accused. A search warrant was granted and the property was searched on June 27, 2023.
“As part of the search, an iPhone in a black case belonging to the accused was seized. The phone was examined and a number of child sexual exploitation images were found.
“In total, seven images and 40 videos were found on the device. There were Category A, B and C pictures and videos on the device. There was no internet search history in the device to identify where the material originated from.
“However, some of the file paths or overlaid text in respect of the images found, may indicate that the images originated from a cloud storage application ‘mega’ and a ‘Telegram Messenger’ which is a cross-platform standalone messaging application.
“The accused was interviewed on June 27, 2023 and at the end he was cautioned and charged and made no reply.”
Defence agent Mr Granvelle told the court the number of images McGettigan was in possession of was “low” given the timespan of the offence.
McGettigan pleaded guilty to being in possession of indecent images of children between September 1, 2021 and June 27, 2023. Mr Granvelle explained McGettigan had found himself as a “teenager on the internet and fell into criminality”.
He added: “He has been very candid with the social work who compiled the background report and understands the seriousness of this offence.”
Sheriff Brian Mohan stated: “Everything about this case shows the perils and the dangers the internet risks. This is an offence with direct and indirect consequences. Supply creates more demand and demand creates more use.”
Sheriff Mohan placed McGettigan, of Dennistoun Road in Langbank, under supervision of the social work department for 18 months. In addition, he was placed on the sex offenders’ register for the same period.
Don’t miss the latestRenfrewshire headlines –sign up to our free daily newsletter here