A Bellshill man who claimed he downloaded child abuse images for research has been jailed for eight months - on his 50th birthday.
Douglas Suttie told police officers an ex-partner had been a victim of abuse and he wanted "a better understanding of what she had been through".
Suttie was also placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
He admitted downloading more than 1200 child abuse images at his home in Tollhouse Gardens, Bellshill, between May 2018 and March last year.
Jennifer McCabe, prosecuting, said that while most of the photos were in the least serious category, 34 were rated Category A, the most depraved.
She said Suttie's laptop was seized when police officers arrived at his home with a search warrant on March 24 last year.
It was clear from the laptop's search history that he had been scouring websites for material.
Images that he had deleted were found after specialist officers carried out a forensic examination of the device.
Ms McCabe told the court: "During a police interview the accused admitted being on websites he shouldn't have visited and had seen some 'very sickening' images of children being abused.
"He said this was not for sexual gratification but for research.
"One of his ex-partners had been subjected to abuse as a child and he wanted to better understand what she had been through. She had not really opened up to him.
"The accused also said that he had hoped to find pictures of the person who had abused his ex."
Defence lawyer Urfan Dar said Suttie accepted his conduct was wrong.
Mr Dar stated: "He went completely outwith the realms of his legitimate enquiry.
"The images were viewed and deleted quickly thereafter.
"He is a first offender and I submit that a robust community payback order with supervision would be a suitable alternative to a custodial sentence"
The court heard that Suttie lost his job after pleading guilty to the charge last month.
Sheriff Daniel Kelly said the offence was aggravated by the inclusion of Category A images and Suttie's "use of the dark web" to access the material.
He told the accused: "I consider the threshold has been passed and there is no appropriate alternative to custody."
The sentence was reduced from one year to eight months because of his guilty plea.
The Scottish Government will be informed that Suttie is unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups, including children.
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