A HELENSBURGH man was caught in possession of thousands of indecent images of children in the town - just a year after judges ruled he didn't need to be supervised for committing similar offences.
Kieran Webster was jailed for 30 months in 2021 after amassing a sickening haul of more than 130,000 indecent photos.
Webster was told he would be on 'supervised release' for a further three years after being let out of prison.
But a year later, two judges at the High Court quashed the supervision element of his sentence after expert reports said he posed a "low risk" to the community.
And, with the threat of supervision no longer hanging over him, Webster went on to commit strikingly similar offences over an eight-month period in 2023.
This time, police found 28,000 indecent images stored on three devices Webster had been using.
Webster, now aged 26, pleaded guilty to three indictment charges at a hearing at Greenock Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
He admitted taking or permitting to be taken, or making, indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at an address in Helensburgh between February 16 and October 19, 2023.
He pleaded guilty to a separate charge of being in possession of such images during this period.
Webster, currently remanded at HMP Greenock, also breached a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which had been granted at Dumbarton Sheriff Court in October 2021, requiring him to allow police to monitor any internet enabled devices that he owned, used or possessed.
He was found with an Apple tablet, concealed behind a headboard, when officers attended his home address in Helensburgh on October 25 last year.
The court was told police had received information regarding a device connected to the internet at the property containing indecent images.
Officers subsequently seized a memory card, mobile phone, laptop and tablet.
Three of the devices were found to contain indecent photographs of children.
Webster was arrested and later gave a 'no comment' interview, also opting to making no reply when he was formally cautioned and charged.
A full cyber crime report was completed, with various usernames and email addresses in Webster’s name being found on the devices.
In total, more than 28,000 indecent photographs were recovered across the devices – as well as upwards of 1,000 videos.
READ MORE: Helensburgh man jailed for indecent images haul
Of these, more than 1,000 were given the most serious category A rating, and almost 1,500 were deemed to fall under category B.
The court heard that the images contained children aged from 'likely less than one year old' up to 17 years old.
In October 2021, Webster was jailed and placed on the sex offenders register for life after he admitted being in possession of 130,000 indecent images of children.
At the time, he was assessed as posing a ‘very high risk’ of reoffending.
Sheriff William Gallacher imposed a 66-month sentence in 2021 which would have seen Webster spend the first 30 months in custody, followed by a three-year period of intensive supervision in the community.
He told Webster: “This was horrible. These were disgraceful images.
"The impact on those involved is life-long.
“But I’m not, at the age you are, willing to write you off.”
This was reduced following an appeal by his lawyers in February 2022, with the supervision element being quashed by judges.
Advocate Ann Ogg described Sheriff Gallacher’s 2021 imposition of an extended sentence as "incompetent".
Following his pleas at Greenock Sheriff Court, Webster’s defence solicitor acknowledged that his record was "clearly significant".
READ MORE: Helensburgh sex offender sentence reduced on appeal
He said: “He was at liberty from August 2022. These offences were committed a few months later.
“There was a great deal that went on during that period.”
Webster was also charged with being in possession of extreme pornographic images depicting bestiality, as well as struggling violently with two detective constables and with attempting to swallow a memory card officers were trying to seize under a warrant.
However, his pleas of not guilty to these allegations were accepted by the Crown.
Sheriff James Varney deferred Webster’s sentencing to allow for the preparation of social work reports and an 'extended sentence' risk assessment.
He was remanded in custody until sentencing on September 10.
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