Pensioner blames internet for his child porn

[gonzo]

A PENSIONER caught with a huge stash of child pornography blamed internet search engines, such as Google, for his downfall.

William Dalgleish, 67, had 16,000 indecent images on his computer when police raided his home in Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, in February.

Yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Brailsford jailed Dalgleish for 32 months – and said it would have been longer had he not pleaded guilty early. He also ordered him to be monitored in the community for four years after his release.

Susan Duff, defending, said: "He feels that he would not have committed these offences if this information was not so freely available.

"He feels if companies like Google did not provide access to such sites, he would not have committed the offences."

She added that Dalgleish has agreed to take part in a sex offenders' programme.

Dalgleish admitted downloading and possessing a total of 16,535 indecent photos and movie clips at his home between 1 December last year and 12 February this year. Police seized his laptop and two separate hard drives. Dalgleish later admitted trawling the internet for images of children of "a sexual nature".

Paul Kearney, prosecuting, said: "He admitted being sexually interested in children.

"He indicated that the bulk of this material related to children – male and female – aged between eight and 14 and that he understood that these images were of children being sexually abused."

The court heard that Dalgleish was jailed for two years in 2001 for charges of indecent assault and placed on the sex offenders' list.

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