A MAN who admitted possessing and distributing indecent images of children from his Greenock home has been jailed for a more than a year.

Peter Gullick pleaded guilty at Greenock Sheriff Court to two charges relating to offences which took place between April 2015 and June 2023.

During this time, the 47-year-old was in possession of almost 500 moving images across several different devices.

Between January and May last year, Gullick also shared or showed indecent images or pseudo-images via the Telegram instant messaging app.

In the course of one conversation with another user, the court heard, more than 100 photographs ranging from category A, the most serious, to category C were sent.

The images were discovered after Police Scotland’s public protection unit received information that the user of a Kik Messenger account had uploaded six category A images to the internet in February last year.

Details associated with the account were attributed to Gullick.

Officers attended his home address in Forfar Road, Branchton, to execute a search warrant on June 7 last year.

Following Gullick's pleas, Sheriff James Varney deferred sentencing to allow for the preparation of social work reports.

READ MORE: Greenock man had hundreds of indecent images, court hears 

Gullick returned to court on Monday, with defence solicitor Paul Cook noting that his client appeared as a first offender.

Mr Cook said Gullick had experienced a ‘difficult time’ in his personal life over the past 10 years, including the loss of his job and his home.

The lawyer added: “Mr Gullick’s mental health within the last decade has simply spiralled.

“That’s the context within which the offences before the court today were committed.

“He accepts fully the gravity of his behaviour. He regrets his behaviour deeply.

“He advises that he is utterly horrified by his behaviour.

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“He has exhibited that he is particularly sorry for the effect that this has had on victims, and the effect that this has had on his family.

“Mr Gullick accepts that he is in an extremely serious situation.”

Sheriff Varney told Gullick there is a strong public interest in ‘deterring’ people from committing such offences.

He said: “I’m quite satisfied that there is no other appropriate sentence to impose than a custodial sentence.”

Sheriff Varney sentenced Gullick to 14 months behind bars and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.