AN EXPERIENCED carer who was caught hoarding images of extreme pornography ended up behind bars after breaching sex offender restrictions.

Simon Willoughby, who previously worked as a senior carer at South Beach Care Home in Ardrossan, was caught with the disturbing images at an address in the town’s Central Avenue.

The 61-year-old admitted being in possession of 61 extreme pornographic images and a single indecent image of a child between July 3, 2020 and March 16, 2022.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) confirmed Willoughby had been suspended back in 2022 over the charges.

He was put on the sex offenders register after entering his guilty plea in November – and though he was initially allowed to remain on the streets, he then ended up behind bars for breaching the register’s notification requirements by having multiple user names for internet-enabled devices.

Willoughby, now of Abbeygate, Kilwinning, was remanded in custody for the breach of the order when he appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court in January, and was brought back to court for sentencing earlier this month.

The procurator fiscal depute told the latest hearing: “On November 14 the accused attended Irvine police office to initiate [sex offender] notification. 

“On January 11, police attended his home address for risk management purposes. 

"His mobile phone was examined and he was found using usernames for a Playstation and Google account. 

"He was asked if they were registered by him, and he stated he had. 

"Police later found the Playstation ID was created on December 22, 2023 and the Google username on December 3." 

When arrested and told of the order breach, the court heard, Willoughby had replied “I didn’t know”.

Gillian Swanney, defending, said the findings of a social work report on her client were “disappointing”, but added: “He was eventually prepared to admit to the offence and to plead guilty.

“Since December 12, his mental health has deteriorated. It would be fair to say he has not enjoyed his spell in custody.”

Ms Swanney told the court the internet user name breach had been “an oversight”.

She added: "I would respectfully submit the public may be better protected with supervision and programme requirements."

Sheriff Laura Mundell told Willoughby: "As you solicitor made clear to you, this could easily justify a sentence of imprisonment. 

"I'm not going to do that. I'm going to put you to the test with a community order. If it is breached again you will simply go to prison.”

Willoughby was put on a community payback order with three years of social work supervision – the maximum allowed – and was told he will have to take part in the ‘Moving Forward, Making Changes’ programme, which aims to address the behaviour of sex offenders.

Sentence on the order breach was deferred until later in the year, and this time Willoughby was granted bail, ending his spell behind bars.

A spokesperson for the SSSC said: "We can confirm the worker was suspended from the SSSC register in April 2022. We cannot comment on individual fitness to practise investigations.

"We wait until the outcome of any criminal proceedings before concluding our fitness to practise investigations."

The Church of Scotland, which runs South Beach Care Home, has been approached for comment.