Inverness man found with indecent images on phone

The mother of a man who was banned from using the internet to stop him downloading child porn reported her son to police for having a mobile phone.

Police raided the Inverness home of 31-year-old Nicholas Ferguson and took possession of it for analysis to prove he was in breach of his bail.

It was later established that it was internet-enabled and there were 39 indecent still images and three videos on it.

At the time the bail order was imposed in April 2019, Ferguson had already been charged with a number of offences including downloading, possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He admitted the charges in December 2020 and was jailed for 28 months in January 2021.

Inverness Sheriff Court had been told earlier this year that Ferguson had twice defied bail conditions and continued to access and download obscene images while waiting to be dealt with.

Defence solicitor Clare Russell told the court that the new charges of possessing indecent images and breaching bail, should have been incorporated with the others for which he had already been jailed. The images had been created between June 8, 2019 and June 10, 2019.

She added that since it was committed before her client was sentenced earlier this year, he should be treated as a first offender.

Sheriff Sara Matheson agreed and deferred sentence until June 28 for a background report. Ferguson, formerly of St Ninian’s Drive, who admitted breach of bail and possessing indecent images, was again placed on the sex offenders’ register.