Airdrie Sheriff Court

Shearer, 46, of Craigmarloch pled guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court last month to two vile offences.

Shearer, a first offender, pled guilty to offences committed between November 7, 2015 and November 15, 2016. He was charged after police followed up a tipoff that indecent images were being downloaded at his address.

Prosecutor Agnes Meek said offices found Shearer’s iPad and PC contained 5,339 still and moving images. Some showed girls as young as eight carrying out sex acts on men.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll, sentencing Shearer, told him: “I can only just deal with this without imposing a custodial sentence, but the sentence will not be an easy one.”