A Fife community leader had more than 10,000 indecent images on his laptop computer and told police it was time to “come clean”.
Adrian Snowball, 63, told police he had a “guilty secret” after being arrested by cybercrime investigation officers.
He had initially told them he was a heterosexual male with a “low sex drive” following an illness in 2010 and denied ever possessing the sick pictures.
After being told his laptop had been forensically investigated, retired human resources consultant Snowball, of Main Road, Arncroach, Anstruther, changed his story, telling officers he had been attracted to young boys.
Snowball was recently involved in the Scottish Government’s campaign to get people who were not using the internet to “get online”.
He was a volunteer for Digital Fife Collaborative, an organisation which helps groups – including those who have never used a computer – “get to grips” with computers and the internet.
More than 620 images of the most serious category A variety were unearthed on his laptop, external hard-drives and USB memory pens, with a further 230 horrendous videos.
In total, 10,086 images and more than 380 videos ranging from category A to C were discovered by police IT experts.
Snowball was caught after a Hotmail email account registered in his name was discovered to have been used to upload appalling images to a Microsoft image sharing site.
Depute fiscal Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court Snowball had appeared in private following his arrest in February.
She said: “On February 22 officers attended the accused’s property and found him inside.
“They confiscated the accused’s computer and a number of images were found. He was detained and taken to Levenmouth police station.
“The accused was interviewed and he denied having seen the images on the device.
“He told officers he was a heterosexual male with a low sex drive since suffering an illness in 2010.
“The laptop device had somewhere in the region of 10,000 indecent images, the majority of them young boys.
“The accused then told officers ‘it’s time to come clean’.
“He told police he had viewed images over a number of years and that he knew it was wrong.
“He said he was sexually attracted to young boys and that it was his guilty secret.”
A total of 623 category A images and 230 videos were found on Snowball’s Toshiba laptop and hard drives.
The court forfeited the laptop, hard drives and USB memory sticks.
Defence solicitor Anne Duffy made no opposition to the forfeiture and asked Sheriff Alastair Carmichael to call for criminal justice social work reports.
Ms Duffy informed the court Snowball had been attending the Stop It Now child sexual abuse prevention group after his arrest.
Sheriff Carmichael deferred sentencing until November 28 and placed Snowball on the sex offenders register.
Fife Council community manager, Janice Laird, said: “Adrian Snowball is no longer a Digital Champion or volunteering with Digital Fife but we would never discuss the individual circumstances of one of our volunteers.
“We of course have robust processes in place when recruiting staff and volunteers who may be in contact with vulnerable members of the public.
“There are a whole number of services throughout Fife, and across the country, which would not exist without the invaluable and tireless help of hundreds of thousands of volunteers who give of their time freely for the benefit of others and we are very grateful to them.”
