A BARRHEAD man who is facing jail over child abuse images he downloaded will have to wait to learn his fate.

Gavin Blair, 29, viewed the banned filth on a laptop at his home in Levern Crescent over a six-and-a-half year period.

He appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court for a pre-trial hearing earlier this month, striking a deal which saw two charges against him dropped when he admitted downloading the illegal files.

Blair’s not guilty pleas were accepted to charges of possessing the snaps and possessing extreme porn images showing bestiality.

Procurator fiscal depute Keri Marshall told Sheriff Frances McCartney that the first offender’s home was raided by police on June 8 last year after they received a tip-off.

She said: “Various items were seized, including a black Acer laptop from the living room. When asked who they belonged to, he replied ‘me’ and, when asked if anyone else had access to it, he replied ‘no.’

“He was asked for any passwords or PIN numbers, which he provided.”

Computer experts examined the laptop and found five images ranked as ‘Category A’ – the most extreme there is.

One of the images showed a girl aged around 13 lying naked on a bed who was being forced to perform a sex act on a grown man.

Sentencing was adjourned for a social work report to be prepared.

However, when Blair returned to the dock this week to learn his fate, his lawyer said the hard drive the images were found on had only come into his possession in 2017, despite pleading guilty to a charge that he had began breaking the law in relation to the images back in 2012.

Sheriff McCartney then adjourned the case again, saying: “I’m going to continue this for a period of one week for the defence and Crown to enter into discussions about the narrative.”

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