Sheriff says 'no alternative' to jail for Highland man who downloaded child porn
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A 25-year-old Inverness man who was constantly bullied at school turned to online pornography because he had no friends.
But for almost three years, Kieran Harvey of Broadstone Park, downloaded tens of thousands of child porn videos and still photographs, some of them at the most extreme level.
Children as young as five were in his collection, which defence solicitor Neil Wilson described as an "obsession" for his client.
However, Mr Wilson battled to keep first-offender Harvey out of jail, saying he was "socially isolated and an immature 25 year old" who had sought help for his addiction immediately after being charged.
Nevertheless, Harvey was sent to prison for 400 days by Sheriff Sara Matheson who paid tribute to Mr Wilson's defence plea, explaining that his client had managed to hold down a good job and attain a degree, despite his isolation.
But she said: "There is no alternative to a custodial sentence due to the number of images, involving children as young as five years old and the length of time involved."
Harvey had admitted downloading and possessing the illegal material from December 2016 to September last year.
Sheriff Matheson told Harvey: "People like you who indulge in extreme pornography perpetuate a market for the ongoing abuse of children."
Harvey burst into tears as he was led away to begin his sentence.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court that 132,448 still images and 805 videos were recovered from Harvey's computer equipment. The vast majority were classified at the lowest end of the scale of obscenity.
Mr Wilson said that more than 40,000 had been copied from one piece of hardware to another, so the number of unique images and videos was around 80,000.
He conceded it was still a high number. But he pleaded with the sheriff not to send his client to jail as he had taken immediate steps to seek help for his problem.
"He needs ongoing support and counselling and this is a case that there is an alternative to custody," he added.
