Former Airth man jailed and banned from contact with children for 20 years

A depraved paedophile whose stash of child porn left police officers needing counselling has been jailed for four years.

Repeat offender Gerry Buchanan told fellow perverts he "loved to see babies being tortured" and the internet is helping to "bring about the reign of Satan".

A sheriff said details of the case were "uniquely horrendous and perverted".

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Buchanan, 64, formerly of Kennedy Way, Airth, was also handed a 20-year sexual harm prevention order, banning him from contact with children.

Buchanan was jailed at Airdrie Sheriff Court. Pic: National Worldplaceholder image
Buchanan was jailed at Airdrie Sheriff Court. Pic: National World

He admitted downloading and sharing child sex abuse images and possessing extreme porn that showed humans having sex with animals.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard police officers raided Buchanan's home in Brackenhirst Gardens, Glenmavis, in October last year.

They found more than 1200 child sex abuse photos and films on two phones, a laptop and a tablet.

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As well as graphic sexual abuse, the material showed what appeared to be dead and mutilated babies.

In one vile online chat Buchanan told another pervert: "I love to see kids or babies being tortured or hurt.

"The internet is such a valuable tool to bring about the destruction of society, the downfall of family values, the reign of Satan and the rule of chaos.

"I gave up on traditional morality long ago."

Sarah Healing, prosecuting, told the court: "The material depicted horrific abuse and gore. Such was the depravity that cybercrime officers analysing the images required regular breaks and specialist counselling thereafter."

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When arrested Buchanan admitted to police officers that he was "deviant".

In 2016 he was given a community payback order at Falkirk Sheriff Court for possessing and sharing child abuse images.

At that time it was said he had undergone rehabilitation and social workers deemed him at low risk of re-offending.

Referring to the latest charges, defence lawyer Jim Sloan said: "He is thoroughly ashamed of himself.

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"He has an elderly mother in Falkirk whom he visited every day to look after. She is hurting due to his behaviour.

"He has brought shame upon his partner who had nothing to do with his offending.

"Regarding the online conversations with the other individual about babies, these seemed to go into fantasy land.

"A lot of the images were of young children, but he says he looked at them and deleted them as soon as he could. His main interest is in teenage children.

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"Hopefully he has learned the lesson that this behaviour is unacceptable."

Sheriff Derek Livingston said the online chats "indicate what pleasure he gets from seeing that sort of stuff".

The sheriff imposed an eight-year extended sentence, meaning Buchanan will serve four years in prison before being supervised in the community for a similar period.

Sheriff Livingston told him: "The narration I heard in your case was uniquely horrendous and perverted.

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"It's clear from the number of images and online conversations that you were enthusiastic about possessing, downloading and distributing this material.

"The distress caused to those who appear in the videos and photos can only be imagined."

The sheriff said a lengthy sexual harm prevention order was "appropriate and necessary" to protect the public.

It bans Buchanan from having contact with children under 16 and places restrictions on his internet use. He will also be on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

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