Kieran Brown 24

Description

A CAMERA-SHY sex offender from Ayr who was caught with more than 1,750 sick photos and videos of children as young as four being abused has dodged a jail term.

Kieran Brown hid the horrific images across various digital devices at his address in Churchill Towers on South Harbour Street.

Brown hid his face from the Advertiser's photographer when he turned up at the town's sheriff court to be sentenced.

The 24-year-old had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing, and making copies of, the indecent images over a period of 18 months.

The court heard officers recovered 28 hours of vile video footage, including children aged four to 16 being abused.

The haul included more than 400 videos classed by police as being at ‘category A’ level – the most serious type.

Brown, who amassed the disgusting images between September 2021 and February 2023, was added to the sex offenders register after submitting his guilty pleas in July.

A judge said Brown knew what he was doing was wrong - and also thought he knew how to "hide his tracks".

A not guilty plea to a further charge of possessing extreme pornography involving animals was accepted by prosecutors.

The procurator fiscal depute said: "The accused appeared on an undertaking [to attend court] on March 13, 2023. He entered no plea and the case was continued for further examination. Bail was granted with special conditions.

"An investigation identified access to indecent images of children at the address of the accused. A search warrant was granted, and on February 16 police attended the locus and his brother attended at the door.

"The accused was traced in the bedroom and police carried out a search. 

"Various electronic devices were seized: two mobiles, a laptop, a Kindle, a computer tower and a hard drive.

"A cyber crime examination revealed indecent images were confirmed to be present on the Kindle and laptop.

"The accused was arrested and conveyed to Ayr police office. He made no comment during interview and was released on an undertaking.

"A total of 1,757 moving and still images were recovered from the devices. 

"In the hard drive, none of the images were readily accessible to users, and were deleted prior to its being examined. 

"In total, 429 accessible still images, 573 accessible moving images, 621 inaccessible still images, and 134 inaccessible moving images were found. The total run time was around 28 hours.

"In relation to categories, in category A there were 43 accessible images and 183 inaccessible, along with 407 accessible videos and 80 inaccessible.

"In category B there were 39 accessible images and 96 inaccessible; 75 accessible videos and 20 inaccessible.

"In category C, police found 347 accessible images and 243 inaccessible, along with 91 accessible videos and 34 inaccessible.

"The material in each category included children aged four to 16 being sexually exploited. 

"The Kick Messenger personal online chat app allows a high level of anonymity in chat conversations, and file sharing was found on the Kindle.

"The accused was signed in and images had been received. There were no signs of images being shared by the accused.”

The fiscal said a variety of apps had been used by Brown to attempt to clean up his devices but that police had still found “relevant material” during their search.

The prosecutor asked for a ‘sexual harm prevention order’ to be imposed on Brown.

Defence solicitor Colin McLaughlin said: “There is a very detailed social work report and there are no cases outstanding.  

“He continues to have family support. His father is here supporting him. His parents are no longer together, and he is living in a property owned by his father  

“He tendered his resignation on Friday, regardless of the outcome.” 

Sheriff Desmond Leslie said: “Going by the Crown’s narrative it is quite clear your are extremely adept at using digital apparatus, electronic apparatus, and computers. 

“To have used such knowledge to cover your tracks, you did know what you were doing. 

“You knew what you were doing was wrong.  I’m satisfied the social worker, who is a seasoned observer of behaviour, is satisfied you have shown remorse. 

“This level of abuse will not under any circumstances be tolerated, and people do go to jail for this. 

“This is not a victimless crime. The victims were those poor children being subjected to whatever behaviour in the images, moving and still. I don’t know the impact on these victims.” 

However he added: “I can deal with this through a non-custodial community payback order.” 

Brown was placed under social work supervision for three years, and was ordered to take part in the Moving Forward Making Changes programme, which aims to address the behaviour of sex offenders. 

He will remain on the sex offenders register throughout the three years of the order.

The Crown's request for a sexual harm prevention order was granted and will strictly limit his access to the internet.

Brown's face was shielded by his father from the Advertiser's photographer as he entered the court building.

Afterwards a masked and hooded man left the building with his face fully covered, running the full distance along the Low Green to get away.