THIS Greenock pervert hoarded and pored over sickening videos of children being sexually abused before crossing the line into distributing the worst form of the material — but insists he's NOT a paedophile.

Iain McKelvie — a 60-year-old unmarried loner — blamed drink for his vile online offences, which progressively worsened over a period of eight months until he was snared by cybercrime police.

He accumulated hundreds of still images and videos of children being sexually assaulted and raped - then stored them on a laptop computer at his flat on Jamaica Street.

McKelvie also distributed online a 'Category A' image of a child being abused for adult sexual gratification, recognised in law as the worst form of paedophile perversion.

But defence lawyer Edward Sweeney told a sentencing hearing at Greenock Sheriff Court: "His position is, as indicated in the background report, that the offences were committed whilst he was under the influence of alcohol, and there is a denial of any underlying difficulty.

"The only explanation he can give is that they were committed under the influence."

The court heard previously how McKelvie had 204 still images and 29 videos of child pornography.

Of the still images, 29 were category A, 32 category B and 140 category C. The videos included 14 category A, nine category B and six category C.

McKelvie — who is today beginning a prison sentence — committed the offences between February 9 and October 5 last year.

Solicitor Mr Sweeney had suggested that a period of supervision within the community for his client would 'offer public protection'.

He said: "There are various alternatives to custody canvassed in the background report.

"Mr McKelvie has worked throughout his adult life and has been employed locally for the last 26 years."

Turning to the distribution aggravation, Mr Sweeney said: "There is one still image, sent to one person only.

"It was peer-to-peer rather than peer-to-group. It was one image, albeit a category A one."

But the lawyer conceded: "Mr McKelvie is realistic as to the outcome."

Sheriff Derek Hamilton imposed a 14-month prison sentence, reduced from 18 months due to McKelvie's guilty pleas, and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.

McKelvie is also now on the list of people unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.

Sheriff Hamilton told him: "One mitigating factor is your previous good character, however, there are a number of aggravating factors.

"There were a number of category A images and a number of moving images.

"They were downloaded over a reasonably lengthy period of eight months, and then you moved into being in the category of person prepared to share and distribute.

"This shows a persistence in the conduct you undertook.

"I have come to the view that there requires to be a custodial sentence."