Colin Aikman's naked children phone photos 'generally innocent'
A man who had almost 500 photographs of naked children on his phone has been given a community-based sentence.
Colin Aikman, aged 41, from Perth, was given the non-custodial punishment after the sheriff said the pictures were "generally innocent".
The photographs included children running across a beach or in naturist or nudist surroundings.
Aikman admitted two charges relating to the possession of indecent images when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis ruled that Aikman had indirectly abused the children.
"The abuse of the victims in a large number of the images here is that the photographs are being placed on a public forum for viewing by persons such as yourself," he said.
"That is the abuse which is the nub of the issue in this particular instance, but in all the circumstances I consider this to be at the lower end of the scale."
Sheriff Foulis told Aikman he would impose a non-custodial sentence.
He placed him on a community payback order for three years and ordered him to undergo a sex offenders' treatment programme, as well as alcohol counselling.
Aikman was also ordered to carry out 125 hours unpaid work and placed on the sex offenders' register.