Edinburgh crime: Man banned from playparks after he was caught with 75,000 child abuse images

Edinburgh man escapes jail for sickening haul of child abuse images

An Edinburgh man who was caught with a shocking haul of child abuse images has avoided a jail sentence - but has been banned from attending at children’s play parks.

Martin Millar, 66, claimed he posed no actual threat to children when police raided his home in connection with him downloading the vile images due to him being impotent.

During the raid last April, Millar was found to have more than 75,000 images and videos stored on computer devices depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as two-years-old.

Millar, of Davidson Mains, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to possessing the sick material when he appeared the capital’s sheriff court last month and he returned to the dock for sentencing today, Friday, March 15.

Martin Millar, 66, of Davidson Mains, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to possessing the sick material when he appeared at court last month.

Solicitor Euan Gosney, defending, previously told the court the offence his client had committed was “abhorrent” and the number of images was “clearly significant”.  But the lawyer said Millar had suffered a mental health breakdown at the time of his offending and had since completed around 25 sessions with the sex offenders organisation Stop It Now.

Mr Gosney added a custodial sentence would “sever the work he is doing with a psychologist” and told the court he has the “continued support of his wife”.

Sheriff Alistair Noble acknowledged the majority of the images were rated as Category C and that Millar had been of “previous good character”. The sheriff said: “I am satisfied that this is a case where custody is not necessary.”

Millar was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and under the supervision of the social work department for three years. He was also placed on a restriction of liberty order where he will have to wear an electronic tag and stay within his home between 9pm and 7am for the next 12 months.

The sheriff also imposed a conduct requirement where Millar is banned from attending at any children’s play parks and swing parks and cannot have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. He will also have to allow any internet accessing devices to be inspected on request.

Previously, fiscal depute Connor Muir told the court police received intelligence Millar was accessing child abuse images at his home and raided the property on April 6 last year.

Mr Muir said: “Officers found the accused within the property alone and when he was made aware why the police were there he replied ‘I’m guilty, I’ve not had sex for 15 years’. [He said] I can’t hurt children, I can’t get an erection and I am not a threat to children.”

The court was told a system unit and two USB sticks were seized from the home and a subsequent forensic examination showed they contained indecent images of children.

Mr Muir said a total of 75,302 accessible and inaccessible images were found with 1454 rated at Category A - the most depraved end of the scale. The fiscal said 279 videos of children being sexually abused by adults were also discovered. The court was told the children involved in the abuse images were aged between two-years-old and 15.

Millar pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home between May 15, 2020 and April 6 last year.