A BARRHEAD man who downloaded an horrendous stash of child abuse images at his home has been spared jail.

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 last month and admitted his guilt, striking a deal with prosecutors 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 sickening 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 obtained a search warrant due to information they had received a tip-off.

She said: “The search warrant was executed at 7.45am on Monday, June 8, 2018. 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 to officers.”
Blair was interviewed and admitted using the laptop, saying he had been on porn sites that contain “everything.”

The court heard that computer experts examined the laptop and found five images that were 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.

A further 10 images were ranked as Category B, which is the next most extreme grading, with 75 images classed as Category C.

When Blair returned to the dock this week to learn his fate, he was allowed to leave court as a free man.

Sheriff McCartney placed him on a Community Payback Order (CPO) for the offences, which he committed between March 2012 and August last year.

As part of the CPO, he will be supervised by social workers for three years and have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Blair has also been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for three years.