A sex offender found with tens of thousands of indecent images of children has been sentenced to over four years in prison.

Stephen Bell, 58, of Sandside Road, Mossbank, Lerwick, Shetland, pleaded guilty to possessing pornographic images of children and intending to distribute or show them to others. He also admitted to taking or allowing indecent images of children to be taken. The offenses occurred between February 2011 and February 2020.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that Bell was "completely dedicated to pornography" and was "incapable of recognizing that every one of the children in the images in his possession was a victim."

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie told the court, "I don't think I can sit down without commenting on the fairly worrying response made by him in the social enquiry report. It's been well understood now that every single image such as has been viewed here of a child contains an image of a victim. He seems incapable of appreciating that very basic truth, and that has to be a significant concern."

MacKenzie described how he felt compelled to seek a time bar extension to allow evidence to be examined after the offense came to light. He said police executed a search warrant at Bell's address but discovered an "extremely complex" system.

The search focused on six hard drives identified as containing most of the suspect material. An additional 29 hard drives were also found. Tens of thousands of indecent images of children were found, with over 5,000 classified as category A (the most serious), over 7,400 as category B, and over 100,000 as category C.

MacKenzie described Bell's home as "in complete disarray" with only two main areas appearing habitable. He described towers of hard drives, pornographic magazines, and DVDs.

"This seems to be a man who is completely dedicated to pornography, and to child pornography in particular," MacKenzie added. "He works full time but it appears that when work was finished for the day his life, almost to the exclusion of everything else, was dedicated to these horrific images."

Defense agent Tommy Allan agreed that the nature of the images was "abhorrent" but highlighted the social enquiry report which showed Bell as a "loner." "He worked, but the rest of his life was taken over by this obsession with this kind of pornography," Allan said. "It would be fair to say he allowed that obsession to get out of control."

Allan said Bell acknowledged that his offending would eventually be discovered and he would face consequences. He added that Bell had had his first opportunity to discuss his problems with social workers during the preparation of reports.

Sheriff Philip Mann sentenced Bell to 52 months in prison (four years and four months) followed by a four-month extended sentence. Bell was also given a sexual offenses prevention order, limiting or monitoring his internet use indefinitely, and was placed on the sex offenders register, also indefinitely.

"This is offending of the most serious kind," the sheriff told Bell.

Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Richard Baird highlighted the complex and specialist nature of the investigation.

"This was an extremely complex investigation and Bell's system has been described as one of the most intricate ever seen by the specialist computer forensic examiners who worked on the case," Baird said. "Possessing indecent images is not a victimless crime and every day children are subjected to dreadful abuse in order to create these materials which are distributed around the world."