A PERVERT who was snared with indecent photographs of young children has avoided a jail sentence.
Paedophile Nicolae Popoiu, 35, speaking through a Romanian interpreter, pleaded guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court in December last year to possessing indecent photographs of children.
The offence happened at his home over a two-year period between 2017 and 2019.
Prosecutor Mohammad Anwar told the court last week that Popoiu was a first offender.
An agreed narration, including the number and the seriousness of the images, was prepared and put in front of the sheriff, but not repeated in open court.
The sheriff instead read the narration privately as he sat on the bench and didn’t reveal the number of images the police cyber unit found.
Popoiu’s defence lawyer, Tom Brannigan, said: “He is accepting responsibility and is extremely worried about the consequences.
“He is fearful of custody as it is a very serious matter. He would welcome the support of supervision and unpaid
work.
“This has been a short, sharp shock and he is confident he will never appear in a court again and says this is very much a one-off.
“It all calls for some sort of supervision and a period of unpaid work.”
Sheriff Vincent Smith, having considered a full criminal justice background report, including a risk assessment as to the risk Popoiu poses to children,told him: “This is a serious matter, but in terms of the number of images I am obliged to take a view from a ruling from another place as to how this matter should be dealt with and that you should not be sent to prison.
“The number of images are at that lower end, which is fortunate for you.”
Popoiu was put on a community payback order for 27 months, reduced from three years because of his early plea.
He was also ordered to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and put on the sex offenders’ register for 27 months.
In addition, Sheriff Smith banned Popoiu from having any contact with children under-16 without prior approval from his supervising officer.
The Cumbernauld resident was also banned from deleting any internet history from any device he possesses or uses and ordered to inform the police offenders’ management unit of any devices he has access to which can access the internet in the future – and make them available for inspection at all times.
