£10k fine for Kinross-shire paedophile pensioner caught with child abuse images

A paedophile pensioner caught with a stash of sickening child abuse material has been fined £10,000.

Police raided James Sneddon’s home in Kinross-shire and uncovered a collection of obscene photos and videos he had been amassing for nearly 12 years.

Some of the files featured children as young as two.

The 71-year-old returned to Perth Sheriff Court for sentencing, having previously pled guilty in August.

The court heard he had put his £320,000 Milnathort home on the market after his depraved past-time was made public.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told him: “The best way to deal with this, to bring home the seriousness of this matter, is to impose a significant financial penalty.”

‘Self-destructive’

Police Scotland was tipped off about potential indecent material being downloaded to devices at Sneddon’s Glebe Crescent home.

Officers armed with a search warrant went to the address on May 15 last year.

When they explained why they were there, Sneddon said: “Yes, you’ll find stuff on my computer.”

He stressed that his partner “had nothing to do with it”.

In front of police, he told her: “I don’t know why but I was trying to hurt myself.

“It wasn’t to hurt you. It was self-destructive.”

A total of 470 indecent files were recovered by police.

The court heard 71 files were described as category A on the obscenity scale which featured children aged between four and 15.

There were 55 category B files, with children as young as two, and 334 at category C.

Many of the files had been deleted and were recovered from the trash part of his computer.

Sentence must be significant

Sneddon pled guilty to downloading images between November 13 2011 and May 8 2023.

Solicitor Lisa Duffus, defending, said her client had never been in trouble with the law before.

She said he had been taking steps to address his behaviour and had been engaging with the Lucy Faithful Foundation, a UK child protection charity.

“This was a relatively low number of files for a period of nearly 12 years,” she said.

“He is now moving out and his property is on the market,” the solicitor added.

“That is due to difficulties from this case and because of details being put in the paper.”

Sheriff Foulis told Sneddon: “I take into account you have no record.

“You are 71, albeit these offences started at the time of your 61st birthday.

“You have pled guilty at the first opportunity and your sentence can be discounted.”

The sheriff said: “In all the circumstances, I am content to deal with this matter by way of a non-custodial disposal.

“But it has to be a significant one to take account of the serious nature of this matter.”

Sheriff Foulis rejected a suggestion of imposing a restriction of liberty curfew, saying it would not be appropriate to order someone who had downloaded child abuse materials to stay at home for 12 hours a day.

Fining Sneddon £10,000, he placed him on the sex offenders register for five years.

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