An Irvine man who set up 10 different Facebook accounts to snare young boys into sex chats has avoided jail.

Graham Scobie was caught with almost 100 sick images and horrific films of children being abused on his laptop – with six of those being in the most depraved category.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard when police called to his home in Dickson Drive, the 49-year-old directed officers to his computer and admitted to having the images on it.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Ms Urqhart told the court Scobie was a risk to children after he admitted to police to spending his days watching pornography and performing sex acts on himself.

She said: “He has a sexual preoccupation. He has admitted to watching porn most days. He has admitted to accessing and sharing material for some time. He has admitted to having deviant sexual interests, in particular an interest in young teenage boys.

“He has victim access. He goes out most days and travels to Glasgow from Irvine when he spends his days walking around parks, Kelvingrove Park in particular, and going to museums. He repeatedly puts himself in situations where he could come in to contact with children.

“His laptop has been examined by police and there is evidence that he accessed porn on a daily basis, especially barely legal and young males.

“He has 10 separate Facebook accounts with different profile pictures and names. His friends on all of them are all male. Some are young adult males who look very young. He confirmed to officers that he engaged in sexual chat with some of these friends.”

But Scobie’s lawyer John McCaffrey urged the court to be lenient on his client because he was a first time offender and in poor health.

He said: “I can’t offer any rationale explanation for this type of offence. It does not make sense. It is quite clear from the report he is an isolated individual. His health mentally and physically is poor.

“He got into a habit of going into online chat rooms. There were 95 images. I don’t seek to minimise that but in the grand scheme it is not a high number.

“He knows he needs intervention. He has been quite contrite.”

Sheriff Shirley Foran said Scobie had been “open about his activities and attraction to young boys” and decided not to jail him, sentencing him to Supervision for three years, made subject to a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order for five years and placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.