A Burntisland man admitted he has an unhealthy attraction to young girls, after being caught with indecent images of children on his computer.
Laurie Candlish, 32, had 2,344 images and 42 videos on his computer of girls aged between five and 14 when it was searched by police. The images and films showed the girls in various states of undress and engaged in sexual activity with adult males.
Police had searched his home in Piper Crescent, Burntisland, after receiving information that an electronic device registered to the IP address there had accessed indecent images.
On Tuesday, depute fiscal Dev Kapadia stated that, under police interview, Candlish admitted he had “an unhealthy attraction to 10 to 14-year-old girls and had done since his teenage years.”
Mr Kapadia continued: “He recognised he had a problem but didn’t feel he had anyone to talk to.”
Candlish admitted that between January 1 2009 and November 5 2013, at Piper Crescent, Burntisland, he took or permitted to be taken or made indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
Sheriff Grant McCulloch placed Candlish on the sex offenders register for a period of time to be determined at sentencing. He deferred sentence for the production of criminal justice social work reports and released Candlish on bail.