A 62-year-old Broughty Ferry man was found with almost 300 indecent images and 26 indecent videos of children, along with almost 3,500 extreme pornographic images and 76 extreme pornographic videos, Dundee Sheriff Court heard.
James Adams, Claypotts Road, admitted possessing the indecent images between December 5 2007 and July 25 2013.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing images depicting adult females engaged in sexual activities with animals between March 28 2011 and July 25 2013.
Adams, who has no previous convictions, was discovered after police received a tip-off that indecent images of children had been downloaded by a router linked to his address.
They searched his home and Adams admitted he “had been looking at porn but I didn’t think it was illegal”.
Adams, a retired civil servant with Durham County Council, later told police he was addicted to pornography and started looking at child abuse images five to six years previously.
He said although he used his wife’s computer tower to view the images, she was not aware of his child abuse activity.
A total of 293 indecent images of children were found, showing girls and boys between the ages of five and 17.
Sheriff Tom Hughes deferred sentence until February 9 and granted him bail.