A Callander man was this week jailed for two years for downloading hundreds of images of children and babies being sexually abused.
Darren Kennedy, of Menteith Crescent, had admitted a charge of downloading child abuse images at his home between June 12 and 19, 2019, when he appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court last month and was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Police had searched 35-year-old Kennedy’s home in June 2019 and discovered nearly 2850 unique indecent images of children on a laptop, a computer tower system unit and an external hard drive, nearly 700 of them the most serious ‘A’ category. Two indecent videos showing children were also found.
Kennedy was due to appear at Stirling Sheriff Court for sentencing on Wednesday.
Representing Kennedy, lawyer Frazer McCready told Sheriff Keith O’Mahony that he understood that Kennedy was not at his Callander home and had been rehoused at homeless accommodation.
Kennedy was traced and appeared in court later in the day.
The court was previously told that Kennedy, a community worker, had been arrested following an early morning raid.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that police acting on information visited Kennedy’s home in Menteith Crescent at 7.30am on June 20, 2019, to execute a search warrant and found the hundreds of unique indecent images of children and the videos.
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Software used to trawl the dark web – including a browser which is supposed to make users anonymous on the internet – had been used to download the collection.
Prosecutor Katie Cunningham had told the court specific search terms had been used to find the pictures of children.
She added: “The images showed children of between approximately six months and 15 years of age.”
Kennedy’s occupation is listed at Companies House as ‘web developer’.
He was listed as having resigned as a director of the Callander Community Development Trust on July 31, 2015, having been in post for less than a year.
Solicitor Mike Bell, defending when the matter called at Falkirk in January, said: “Mr Kennedy has not been in prison before and a [background] report will undoubtedly be required.”
When Sheriff Keith O’Mahony deferred sentence last month for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
He also placed Kennedy on the sex offenders’ register.
Leaving court that day, Kennedy gave a V-sign to a reporter who asked him if he had any comment to make, but said nothing.
Following Wednesday’s sentence, Forth Valley Police Division said on their Facebook page: “Police Scotland acknowledge the two year prison sentence given to Darren Kennedy at Stirling Sheriff Court today (Wednesday, February 16)."
Detective inspector Adrian Ure of Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigation Unit added: “We remain committed to bringing those who commit these kind of offences to justice, and protecting young people and children who are at risk.
“If you or anyone you know has been a victim of abuse, and you wish to report it, you should feel confident in contacting Police Scotland. We will listen and we will take action.”
