Scots paedophile James Sneddon fled to Amsterdam after he was ordered to sell his £320k villa.
Sneddon, who is 71, lived in Perth and Kinross. He admitted to downloading child pornography over ten years. They put him on the Sex Offenders Register for five years, starting last October.
He paid the £10,000 fine after the files were found. Then, less than two weeks later, he went to Amsterdam without telling the police. This violated his travel restrictions.
Jill Drummond, a lawyer, told the court he left Scotland on November 12th, admitting he didn’t tell police about his trip. She said he knew he was required to inform police before travelling.
Sheriff Simon Collins fined him £350, stressing the rules are not optional. The sheriff said he knew Sneddon committed a serious crime.
Sneddon said he felt too bad to function, but Sheriff Collins noted he functioned well enough to travel there. Sneddon said it was an act of self-destruction as he downloaded images of young kids.
Sheriff Foulis considered Sneddon’s age and lack of prior record. Because Sneddon admitted guilt early, the sentence was reduced to a non-custodial sentence.
His actions lasted eleven and a half years, so the sentence needed to be significant. The sheriff thought a large fine was best, giving Sneddon six months to pay the £10,000, and he put his house on the market for over £320,000.
His lawyer, Lisa Duffus, said he owned the house outright and it was for sale due to the case. She said he quickly took responsibility, was a low risk to re-offend, and sought help for his mental health. Duffus also said he has always worked and wants to give back.
Police raided Sneddon’s Kinross-shire home and found clips and photos of kids as young as two. He admitted to downloading the images at home, with the activity occurring from 2011 to 2023.
Callum Gordon, the prosecutor, explained how they discovered the material. Police received intelligence that a device contained indecent material. Officers searched his home on May 15th, 2023, where Sneddon and his partner were present and informed of the reason for the search.
Sneddon told them they would find stuff on his computer. He said his partner did not know about the material, explaining that he was trying to hurt himself, not her, and that it was self-destructive. Police took two computers and a laptop, with paperwork linking them to Sneddon.
Gordon said they found 470 indecent images and videos. Seventy-one were category A, featuring kids between four and fifteen. Fifty-five were category B, with children as young as two, and 334 were category C.