A panicked paedophile was snared by police after accidentally giving his stash of child abuse material to a relative.
The disgusted family member confronted Alan Hayburn after she found the depraved images on a storage card he had given her for a mobile phone.
Hayburn, 57, pled guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his former home in Dundee over a 14-year period.
The city’s sheriff court was told that Hayburn, a first offender, regularly had his shopping bought for him by the relative, who was 28.
It was revealed she increasingly cared for him while Hayburn struggled with alcoholism.
Files named ‘cuties’
On the morning of December 14 2023, a drunk Hayburn gave her a mobile phone to use and asked her to reset it to factory settings, which she did.
“She set the phone up that night but noticed the SD (secure digital) card in the phone was nearly full so decided to look,” fiscal depute Laura Bruce said.
“She discovered five files named ‘cuties 1’, ‘cuties 2’, ‘cuties 3’, ‘cuties 4’, ‘cuties 5.’
“Preview photographs showed indecent pictures of young females.”
“She was shocked and decided to contact the accused.”
The woman later visited Hayburn at his home at Servite Court and saw five SD cards on a swivel chair which she thought was “unusual”.
Mrs Bruce added: “She suspected the accused was searching for the missing SD card which had been mistakenly given to her.
“She said she saw the photos and the accused said ‘it was a long time ago’.
“She said she was disgusted and had no intention of ever seeing him again.”
‘Somebody’s taking a joke’
Police were given the mobile phone and SD card by the woman before they arrested Hayburn and searched his home after a warrant was granted.
Following his arrest, Hayburn replied: “Somebody’s taking a joke.”
Children as young as six featured in the 758 abuse images that were discovered, the vast majority of which were at Category C level.
Hayburn, now of Barnhill, pled guilty to committing the offence between January 4 2009 and December 14 2023.
Sheriff Charles Lugton placed Hayburn on the sex offenders’ register before he deferred sentence until June for a social work report to be prepared.
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