Prison officer who taught sex offenders caught with child abuse images and extreme donkey porn

22 May 2025, 14:45

A prison officer who ran rehab courses for sex offenders has been caught with extreme donkey porn and child abuse images.

Officers raided former HMP Edinburgh officer Peter Sugden's home and found 12 child sexual abuse images and one video.

Two of the photographs found were deemed Category A - the most severe kind, which are images involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism.

The 46-year-old admitted to possessing child pornography, extreme porn involving images of a woman having sex with a donkey and a man having intercourse with a dog at Falkirk Sheriff's Court last week.

The father-of-two had previously pleaded guilty to speaking indecently to a decoy he believed to be a girl named Abbie.

Sugden has been placed on the sex offenders register and ordered to attend rehab and to work with the child abuse prevention charity Stop It Now.

He has also been put under supervision for three years.

Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: "Peter Sugden deliberately conducted a sexualised exchange online with someone he thought to be a 13-year-old girl.

"Following his arrest, his phone was found to contain several images containing child sexual exploitation and abuse.

"Sugden has now been held accountable for his predatory and exploitative conduct, and we hope this prosecution makes clear that we will take action against those who commit this type of offending.”

Passing sentence, Sheriff Craig Harris said: "These offences involve a high degree of culpability.

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"In terms of harm, viewing, downloading and distributing indecent images of children is part of the process of child abuse.

"Those who access material bear responsibility for the abuse for creating a demand for such material.

"You worked yourself with sex offenders. You delivered a high intensity programme."

Sugden, who has no previous convictions, had caused "great distress" to his family with his actions, his solicitor Sarah McIlwham said.

She said: "Mr Sugden is a man who never thought he would be in front of the courts but finds himself here after a significant lapse in judgement.

"It's something for which he's deeply remorseful and regretful of. However he takes full responsibility.

"He was put out of the family home. He has not returned; he has no chance of reconciliation with his wife, and quite frankly, he is too ashamed to try.

"Similarly, the relationship he has with his two daughters is strained.

"There was a lapse in judgement. His mental health prior to this offending had been significantly down.

"He's currently medicated for that. He doesn't see himself coming off this medication for some time."He is a man somewhat broken by his actions."

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson told the BBC: "We recognise the profound and lasting impact such crimes have on survivors.

"This individual is no longer employed by the Scottish Prison Service."