An Edinburgh man found with thousands of child abuse images is set to be moved from his home overlooking one of the city's primary schools.
Stuart McDonald spent four years collecting the vile material, with hundreds of the 17,000 images he was caught with at the "most serious level".
As reported by the Daily Record, the 46-year-old avoided jail when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday. However he does face being moved from his home near Leith Primary School.
He'd previously pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children. He accessed thousands of vile images between January 23 2016 and August 4 2020.
Sheriff Alistair Noble said authorities were looking at switching McDonald’s home “because your current address overlooks a school although there is no suggestion of a risk of contact offending”. The sheriff said McDonald was a first offender but added this wasn’t unusual for people convicted of this particular offence.
He added: “It’s accepted that the offences are serious. They were committed over a period exceeding four years and more than 17,000 images were viewed.”
McDonald was sentenced to three years supervision having already been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register. He must live in accommodation approved by supervisor while a move of address is contemplated. He must also tell his supervisors about any internet-enabled devices he has and is banned from deleting his browser history or using programmes to hide his online activities.
McDonald’s defence agent Lesley Cunningham earlier said her client was a “socially isolated” individual and the reports on him had identified “a number of vulnerabilities” he suffered from.
