Child porn gets ex-depute fiscal community work

Former lawyer Stuart MacFarlane outside Paisley Sheriff Court. Picture: Mick McGurk

Stuart MacFarlane had previously resigned from his job as a prosecutor and joined the Territorial Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, he was arrested after police raided his home in Eaglesham, near Glasgow, on 28 December, last year.

At Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday, MacFarlane was handed a three-year community payback order requiring him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and to accept specialist counselling and psychiatric input where necessary.

Police had seized two laptops from a shed at his home and took them away for forensic examination.

The court had previously been told that MacFarlane was detained and questioned, but only after he had been medically examined as it was known that he had previously claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after serving as a Territorial Army captain in Iraq.

Urfan Dar, representing MacFarlane, said he was someone who had put his life on the line for his country through front-line action described as “very impressive service”.

Most recently, he had been employed with US Special Forces as a team leader at administrator level involved in training and mentoring sections of the judiciary in Afghanistan. Prior to that, he had been part of a Nato rapid reaction force – described by his lawyer as an “extremely dangerous role,” which led him into direct contact with the Taleban as he tried to dissuade extremists from joining.

When serving with the Territorials in Iraq, he experienced front-line action and afterwards was diagnosed as suffering from PTSD.

Mr Dar revealed that his client had, for the past nine months, been paying for private counselling sessions in order to address underlying issues in his life which had caused the accused to experience “a significant level of self-loathing and disgust” and led him to consider suicide.

“Whether an addiction, illness or deviance, the treatment appears to be working,” he told the court. “While punishment is undoubtedly required, it would be best not to derail the recovery process, which is significantly advanced.

“A three-year probation order would not be a soft option.”

Earlier this year, when MacFarlane first admitted his guilt in court, Procurator Fiscal Laura McPherson said almost 15,000 images were found on his computer. MacFarlane, 45, admitted that between March and December last year, at a property in Eaglesham, and elsewhere, he took, permitted to be taken or made indecent photographs of children.

Sheriff James Spy said: “I intend to hold regular reviews, the first of which will take place in eight weeks’ time in order to monitor your progress.”

He was warned that, if he was found to be in breach of any of the conditions put in place, he would face imprisonment.