A 25-year-old man has become the first person in Scotland to be found guilty of pirating a cinema screening.

Christopher Clarke was sentenced to 160 hours of community service on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to taping a premiere screening of Robin Hood at the Cineworld cinema in Glasgow city centre on May 12, 2010.

Area Procurator Fiscal for Glasgow John Dunn said Clarke "repeatedly pirated films from cinema screenings and uploaded them to the internet for profit".

Investigators from the Federation Against Copyright Theft caught Clarke recording the Ridley Scott movie at a special screening on the morning of Wednesday 12 May last year - just hours before the movie received its offical premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

As he tried to leave the cinema, Strathclyde Police officers cautioned Clarke and seized the mobile phone that he had used to capture the entire film.

Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General, said: "Following the intelligence development by FACT, there was excellent co-operation from Cineworld, Strathclyde Police and the procurator fiscal to ensure that Christopher Clarke was brought to justice.

"This individual was responsible for the recording of five films and their subsequent uploading to the internet for downloading or streaming by millions of people worldwide."

Mr Dunn added: "I hope this sends a strong message to all those who believe that they can remain anonymous solely because they commit their crimes over the internet.

"They should beware that the investigative authorities of Scotland work tirelessly to remain at the forefront of forensic computer analysis and technological specialism – we can and will track down those who pirate films, whether the profit is made in cyberspace or a marketplace."