By Lanarkshire Live
A depraved paedophile whose stash of child porn left police officers needing counselling has been jailed for four years. Repeat offender Gerard Buchanan told another pervert he loved 鈥渢o see babies being tortured鈥 and the internet is helping to 鈥渂ring about the reign of Satan鈥. A sheriff said details of the case were 鈥渦niquely horrendous and perverted鈥. Buchanan, 64, was also handed a 20-year sexual harm prevention order, banning him from contact with children. He admitted downloading and sharing child sex abuse images and possessing extreme porn that showed humans having sex with animals. Airdrie Sheriff Court heard police officers raided Buchanan鈥檚 home in Brackenhirst Gardens, Glenmavis, in October last year. They found more than 1200 child sex abuse photos and films on two phones, a laptop and a tablet. As well as graphic sexual abuse, the material showed what appeared to be dead and mutilated babies. In one vile online chat Buchanan told another pervert: 鈥淚 love to see kids or babies being tortured or hurt. 鈥淭he internet is such a valuable tool to bring about the destruction of society, the downfall of family values, the reign of Satan and the rule of chaos. 鈥淚 gave up on traditional morality long ago.鈥 Sarah Healing, prosecuting, told the court: 鈥淭he material depicted horrific abuse and gore. Such was the depravity that cybercrime officers analysing the images required regular breaks and specialist counselling thereafter.鈥 When arrested Buchanan admitted to police officers that he was 鈥渄eviant鈥. In 2016 he was given a community payback order at Falkirk Sheriff Court for possessing and sharing child abuse images. At that time it was said he had undergone rehabilitation and social workers deemed him at low risk of re-offending. Referring to the latest charges, defence lawyer Jim Sloan said: 鈥淗e is thoroughly ashamed of himself. 鈥淗e has an elderly mother in Falkirk whom he visited every day to look after. She is hurting due to his behaviour. 鈥淗e has brought shame upon his partner who had nothing to do with his offending. 鈥淩egarding the online conversations with the other individual about babies, these seemed to go into fantasy land. 鈥淎 lot of the images were of young children, but he says he looked at them and deleted them as soon as he could. His main interest is in teenage children. 鈥淗opefully he has learned the lesson that this behaviour is unacceptable.鈥 Sheriff Derek Livingston said the online chats 鈥渋ndicate what pleasure he gets from seeing that sort of stuff鈥. The sheriff imposed an eight-year extended sentence, meaning Buchanan will serve four years in prison before being supervised in the community for a similar period. Sheriff Livingston told him: 鈥淭he narration I heard in your case was uniquely horrendous and perverted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear from the number of images and online conversations that you were enthusiastic about possessing, downloading and distributing this material. 鈥淭he distress caused to those who appear in the videos and photos can only be imagined.鈥 The sheriff said a lengthy sexual harm prevention order was 鈥渁ppropriate and necessary鈥 to protect the public. It bans Buchanan from having contact with children under 16 and places restrictions on his internet use. He will also be on the sex offenders鈥 register for an indefinite period. A neighbour said he was 鈥渟hocked and appalled鈥 by the extent of Buchanan鈥檚 depravity, adding: 鈥淗e鈥檚 retired and seemed to live a quiet life. I hadn鈥檛 seen him for a while but had no idea he was in prison in connection with this case.鈥 Another neighbour said: 鈥淭his is a quiet area and I would see him and his partner walking their dog. 鈥淭here are children around here and I鈥檓 not happy we didn鈥檛 know about his background.鈥 * Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here . And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook ? Head on over and give us a like and share!