Halkirk man had deleted indecent images – but they remained on computer
A man found in possession of indecent images of children on his computer had immediately deleted them, Wick Sheriff Court was told.
They were sent to Paul Hardman (36), the court heard on Wednesday. However, the illegal photos remained on his hard drive, which left him open to the charge on indictment.
The surprise twist in the case emerged in a background report considered by Sheriff David Sutherland. He told Hardman before sentencing him: "You should have told the authorities about this at the time."
The offence occurred at Hardman's address, The Bungalow, Netherside Farm, Halkirk, between April 16 and December 17, both 2020.
The photos were recovered from two hard drives by police officers acting with a search warrant. Hardman pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing in December.

The images included children between the ages of five and 12 years and 10 to 15 years on two hard drives.
Sheriff Sutherland referred to the case as being "somewhat unusual". He went on: "It is clear from the report and its other investigations that you received the images and deleted them but they remained on your hard drive. It is unfortunate from your point of view that you didn't report the matter to the authorities."
Solicitor Fiona MacDonald said that Hardman, a first offender, had accepted responsibility for the photos which had "ended up on his computer" and as a consequence had lost his job.
She invited Sheriff Sutherland to follow the recommendation in the report.
Hardman was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work during which he will be subject to supervision. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register and will have to provide the police details of his computer and his mobile phone and will further make these available for inspection by officers as they require.
The hard drives were ordered to be forfeit.