A paedophile is facing jail after he claimed he “couldn’t really tell” how old the children in the cache of child abuse images he had downloaded were because “they were Japanese”.
Brian Jacobi, 68, then admitted one of the girls appeared to be only around 12 years old – but then claimed he had only downloaded the stash to “test his libido”.
The pervert has now been placed on the sex offenders register and faces jail when he is sentenced next month.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Jacobi had installed sophisticated file cleaning software on his computer to cover his tracks.
Despite that, police still found a total of 143 indecent images and eight sick videos of children on his computers.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robetson told Dundee Sheriff Court: “Police acting on intelligence executed a search warrant at the accused’s address on May 16.
“A preview examination of his computer revealed indecent images and he was arrested.
“He was interviewed later and said he had been viewing porn online and admitted there may be images of children aged 13 to 16 on his computers.
“But he said ‘they were Japanese and he couldn’t really tell what ages they were’.
“He said he had done it to test his libido and that there was no way he would go with a child.
“On the computers there was software found that is used for deleting browsing history and sensitive data.
“The police experts state he appears to be knowledgeable and proficient with file cleaning software for hiding his online activity.”
Jacobi, of Wishart Place, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to taking or making indecent images of children between January 5 2016 and March 26, 2018 at his home.
Defence solicitor Kevin Hampton said he would reserve his plea in mitigation until a later sentencing date.
Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released Jacobi on bail.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register pending sentencing.
The sheriff said: “Whilst the number of images is relatively small as these cases go there are a number of features that are troubling.”
