Published: Tuesday, 24th March, 2009 10:25am

Five years for man branded "danger" to kids

by Amanda Keenan

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A PAEDOPHILE who admitted posting sick images of himself with a schoolboy on the internet has been jailed.

Vile David Jenkins pleaded guilty to having 50,525 disturbing images of children, with hundreds at the most extreme level.

The internet predator was caught when police raided his home and discovered a horde of child pornography.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Jenkins, 39, had posted indecent images of a boy wearing nappies.

A judge told Jenkins: "You are a danger to children. You have crossed over from online offending to a direct contact offence."

Lord Malcolm pointed out that Jenkins had been assessed as posing a high risk of reoffending and a high risk if harm to kids.

He also said he will refer his case to Scottish Ministers as someone unsuitable to work with children, before jailing the pervert for five years and 10 months.

Extracts from chat room logs show that Jenkins was in contact with other perverted individuals and that he both sent and received indecent images of children.

When questioned by police he admitted having a cache of child porn but claimed he could not recall how many images he had viewed.

Appearing for sentencing on Wednesday Lord Malcolm told Jenkins: 'I am told you have no real understanding of the impact of your crimes on others.'

'Given the nature and gravity of the conduct, it is clear to me only a custodial disposal would be appropriate.'

The judge told him he took into account his health problems and that he had been abused earlier in life.

He also ordered that Jenkins should be kept under supervision for a further three years after his prison sentence.

Jenkins, of Ailsa View, Fereneze Road, Neilston, had earlier admitted charges of possessing, taking and distributing indecent photos of children.

Lord Malcolm told him that he was 'perhaps fortunate' to have been charged under a section of legislation in relation to one offence which carried a maximum of two years imprisonment, as another carried a penalty of up to 10 years.

Jenkins pled guilty to possessing the photos between March 2001 and December 2007 and distributing or showing images by the internet between August 2005 and October in 2006.

He took indecent photographs on October 3 in 2006.

The court heard that police arrived at his home on December 4 in 2007 with a search warrant.

He admitted there were indecent images of children on a laptop computer and a hard drive.

Among the thousands of images found were 471 at Level 5 on the Copine scale, which is used to assess the seriousness of the child pornography.

Jenkins told police that he had downloaded images from websites and file sharing and had received others in the post.

He claimed that he had no interest in viewing child pornography since late 2005 to early 2006.

Defence solicitor advocate Des Finnieston said Jenkins was now remorseful.

He added that Jenkins suffered from a number of complaints and was in severe pain because of back problems.

Jenkins was placed on the sex offenders" register and Lord Malcolm said he would refer his case to the Scottish Ministers as someone unsuitable to work with children.