By Rory Cassidy

AN EAST Renfrewshire man has been jailed for downloading child abuse images and sharing them with other paedophiles online.

Adam Gray had been looking for a job after graduating with an Honours degree in Product Design and Engineering.

But the 22-year-old’s career lies in tatters and he is now languishing behind bars for downloading banned filth at his parents’ £450,000 home and passing it on to other perverts.

Gray was dragged out of the detached villa in Newton Mearns by police officers, in front of shocked neighbours.

He was charged with downloading images of abuse from the age of 16, after police caught him with 495 pictures and 303 films.

Of his stash, which was spread across his iPhone and laptop, 230 were rated as being at category A - the most severe there is.

But Gray struck a deal with prosecutors which saw the date he began accessing the illegal images and films changed from August 2011 to November 2015, when he was 21.

He pleaded guilty to taking or allowing pictures of children to be taken - by accessing them online - from then until July last year.

And he admitted a second charge of distributing the horrific pictures and videos to other paedophiles between July and December.

Gray admitted his guilt during a hearing at Paisley Sheriff Court last month, with sentence being deferred for background reports, and returned to the dock this week to learn his fate.

Defence solicitor Rhona Lynch asked for leniency, saying her client had a bright future ahead of him and had embarrassed his family.

She added: “He comes from a very respectable and decent family background, enjoyed a privileged and loving upbringing and is previously of exemplary character.

“He is intelligent and articulate, excelled at school, and graduated with an Honours degree from the University of Strathclyde.

“His parents were both shocked and stunned when police officers attended the family home and searched it.

“To say Mr Gray’s parents are devastated by their son’s actions would be an understatement. They remain fully supportive, while condemning his behaviour in every way.

“He was drawn into what he describes as ‘the seedy underworld of the internet.’ He wholeheartedly accepts his responsibility and doesn’t, in any way, seek to minimise or excuse his behaviour.”

However, Sheriff Robert Fife ruled there was only one way to deal with Gray, jailing him for nine months, reduced from a year as he admitted his guilt, and placing him on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.