Mother becomes first woman in Scotland to be prosecuted for file-sharing

A mother-of-three from Ayrshire has become the first woman in Scotland to be convicted of sharing illegally downloaded music files.

Anne Muir, 58, was caught with more than 30,000 files worth an estimated 54,792 in the mainstream market and was sentenced today to three years probation.

The mother-of-three was sentenced at Ayr Sheriff Court, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said.

Muir was caught with the files at home by police on June 27 2008, following a joint investigation with the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) - the body which represents the UK record industry.

They removed computer equipment and found 7,493 digital music files and 24,243 karaoke files.

The search also revealed that she was part of a "sharing hub", which meant users within her network could download music from her.

Muir, a mother-of-three from Ayr, pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing articles which she had reason to believe were copyrighted without a licence, to such an extent as to affect the owner of the copyright.

At an earlier hearing, defence lawyer Lorenzo Alonzi said his client, an auxiliary nurse at Ayr hospital, had not used the network for financial gain, but to build up her self-esteem.

"She has expressed genuine remorse for this and is severely embarrassed about it," he added.