A kitchen porter caught with child porn on his laptop accessed the sick material out of “stupid curiosity”, a court heard.
Andrzej Mazurek maintained he has “no sexual interest in children” despite the videos being found on his computer after a police swoop on his home.
The 36-year-old appeared for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday.
Mazurek previously admitted possessing indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children between October 22 2013 and October 14 last year at his then-home in the city’s Niddrie area.
Sentence had been deferred for reports.
Sheriff Chris Dickson told Mazurek it was a “serious” offence but imposed a community payback order with 12 months of supervision and 150 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody.
Mazurek had been placed on the sex offenders’ register at the previous hearing.
His defence agent said Mazurek, who works in a hotel restaurant, had no previous convictions.
He said his client accessed the child porn out of “stupid curiosity” and said he didn’t have a sexual interest in youngsters.
The solicitor added Mazurek, of the city’s Pilton area, was “ashamed of his behaviour” while the report evaluated him as a “low risk” for re-offending.
Fiscal depute Lynsay Magro previously told the court how cops received information that an IP address linked to his address had been viewing indecent images of youngsters.
She told the court that officers went there at 8.10am last October 14 to execute a search warrant.
Ms Magro said a laptop was recovered from the accused’s bedroom. An analysis of the device found three videos with incident images of children, one at the Category A or worst level, and two at Category B.
