CAITHNESS MAN AVOIDS JAIL OVER 'EXTREME' PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURE
A 54-year-old Caithness man will be sentenced next month after admitting to downloading child porn and possessing an extreme pornographic image involving bestiality.George Ashcroft, of Shelligoe Road, Lybster, obtained the images between June 17 and July 9, 2024.
Sheriff Sara Matheson did not hear the facts at Inverness Sheriff Court.
They will be delivered on November 18 after a social work pre-sentencing report has been prepared.
She also instructed an assessment for the sex offenders' rehabilitation programme, Moving Forward to Change.
Ashcroft was immediately placed on the sex offenders’ register.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - November 2025: Sheriff Matheson ordered Ashcroft to carry out 210 hours of unpaid community work and participation in the sex offenders’ rehabilitation programme, Moving Forward to Change.
Ashcroft is to remain under social work supervision for three years.
He was also placed on the Sex Offender’s Register for the same period.
The sheriff told him: “I share society’s disgust because those who view this kind of material create a market for the abuse of children.”