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A former councillor caught with images on his phone of girls aged between five and ten being raped has been given a community sentence.

Ewan Dillon, 21, who represented Labour for Bridge of Allan and Dunblane on Stirling Council at the time, resigned in March.

A court heard police received information in May 2022 - the same month Dillon was elected - that there was a device at his home containing indecent images of children.

Dillon was ordered to complete 270 hours of unpaid work and placed on supervision for two years.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

Dillon, who switched to being an independent councillor days after the raid, told officers: "All I want to say on the record is that it's an accident.

"It's a link, something has been downloaded or sent to me, and I've deleted it."

Stirling Sheriff Court was told officers raided Dillon's home and found the phone in his bedroom.

An examination revealed 58 child abuse images on the device, 15 of them of the most serious category.

Dillon pleaded guilty to downloading child abuse images between October 2021 and September 2022.

Sheriff Keith O'Mahony told him the sentence was a direct alternative to custody.

He told Dillon: "If you breach this order you'll be brought back before me and prison, I would imagine, would be inevitable."