Police found hoards of some of the worst types of child abuse images on a sex offender’s phone after he made contact with a child.
Dean Andrews, 29, of Hillbank Road, was remanded in custody after pleading guilty to charges on indictment under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act and of downloading indecent images of children at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Andrews was caught after sending inappropriate messages to a 10-year-old girl on WhatsApp messenger.
The young girl showed her mother a message she received from Andrews, which asked the child when she would “turn 11?”, which ended with a kiss.
Upset at what she had read, the girl’s mum contacted police, who recovered two mobile phones from Andrews during their investigation.
After examining the mobile devices, officers discovered almost 200 child abuse images had been downloaded on to the phone – an alarming number of which were of the most severe child abuse category.
Depute fiscal Kirsten Thomson told the court that after being cautioned and charged, Andrews told police he was “deeply sorry” and wished he had not done what he did.
Defence solicitor John Boyle said: “He has been on bail with stringent conditions with no breaches.”
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence on Andrews until February 16 for social work background reports but remanded him in custody in the meantime.
Sheriff Carmichael told Andrews he would be placed on the sex offenders register and would decide on how long for when he returned for sentencing next month.
