Police uncovered a vile stash of almost 5,000 indecent images of children at a Perth man’s house after receiving a tip-off.
The horrifying collection, which showed victims as young as four engaged in sadism and bestiality, was found at the home of Stuart Fraser.
The 50-year-old even told officers they would find “stuff” on his computer when they raided the Princes Street property.
Depute fiscal Keith Robertson told Perth Sheriff Court that the accused had come under suspicion in September 2011 when “confidential” information was passed on to police officers.
Following an initial investigation, a search warrant was executed for Fraser’s home on November 14 2011 and he agreed to attend at divisional headquarters in Perth on a voluntary basis.
Mr Robertson said: “His computer and associated devices were seized by police.
“A preliminary examination for the presence of offensive material was undertaken prior to the accused being interviewed.
“At the interview, the accused admitted that there would be indecent images of children contained within the computer equipment seized from his house.
“He agreed he had distributed images to others and had received images through internet chat rooms. When asked about the ages of children involved, he stated: ‘I don’t know nine or 10 upwards, maybe younger’.”
After being told how many images and videos were uncovered on his computer, Fraser tried to claim that some were duplicates.
In total, 2,675 still images were found 1,707 at level one, which is the least serious category, 921 at level four and 47 at level five, which covers sadism and bestiality.
Police also discovered 2,280 videos at levels four and five, the higher end of the definitive scale.
Examination of Fraser’s chat logs revealed that he had been responsible for distributing 1,904 images of children aged between four and 14 engaged in acts at level five on the scale.
He admitted that on November 14 2011 at his home address or elsewhere unknown, he was in possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
He also admitted that between June 29 2007 and December 6 2007, he distributed or showed indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.
Sentence was deferred until May 9 for reports.