A HALBEATH man who was found with hundreds of images of child abuse on his computer has been jailed.

Darren Bruce, 37, of Fod Street, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

He had previously admitted that between August 2, 2015 and April 3, 2017, he was in possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

A previous court hearing heard that a work colleague of Bruce had visited his home and had asked if he could use his laptop.

When he did so, he came across a file which appeared to have hundreds of images of young males exposing themselves.

The colleague did not confront Bruce about this but instead reported the matter to the police.

Officers sought and obtained a search warrant for Bruce’s home and this was executed.

Devices were seized as was a laptop which was being repaired in St Andrews.

There were just under 300 movies and images on the devices with over 100 at category ‘A’, the classification for the most serious type.

On Wednesday, defence solicitor Roshni Joshi said her client appeared as a first offender.

"He was fully accepting of it and at no point did he attempt to minimise his behaviour or deny it to any extent," she said. "Alcohol is an issue. It is perhaps described as a coping method in particular through this period of his life. He has taken it on himself to seek the appropriate help."

Sheriff Charles Macnair jailed Bruce for 15 months.

"You have plead guilty to being in possession of indecent photographs or contents over a period of about 18 months," he told him. "The images comprised of a large number and I accept they are not as large as some we see here but still a significant number of class A moving files.

"When one uses bland terms such as class A and A type photos or images or movies, the description hides the foul reality of what you were watching which was films of the rape of young children.

"It is that abuse which you watched for your own gratification. The victims of your offending are these young children who are being raped and otherwise abused. If people did not watch it, others would not make it.

"In my view, having regard to the number of images, in particular those at A category, there is no appropriate alternative but a custodial sentence."