Dufftown man downloaded child pornography
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Police received intelligence that a Dufftown man had downloaded indecent images of children on his phone and obtained a warrant to search his home.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that officers went to Sergio Costa's address at Hillside Avenue on August 10 last year.
They took possession of the 40-year-old's phone and other electronic devices.
However, fiscal depute Robert Weir told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald that Costa refused to provide the police with the pin codes to access his devices.
An expert had to be called in to bypass his security.
In total, over 50 images and two videos were discovered on the devices. They all showed boys and girls aged between four and 14, some of which contained children engaged in sexual activity.
Costa was sentenced to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
He was also placed under three years of social work supervision and upon the sex offender's register for the same period.
In addition Costa must participate in a sex offender's rehabilitation programme called 'Moving Forward Making Changes'.
