A 29- year-old man has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography videos of the “most serious” classification at his address in Mid Yell last year.
Sam Hesketh, of 6 Burra Park Road, Mid Yell, admitted an offence of permitting indecent images of children to be taken between 3 May and 5 June 2015.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Tuesday that a national policing agency had become aware of suspicious online activity that had caused concern.
Specialist officers attended the Mid Yell property armed with a search warrant and discovered abuse videos on Hesketh’s laptop involving children, some as young as two years old.
A total of 14 videos containing abuse of young boys and girls were discovered, several of which were designated as category A, and Mackenzie said it “doesn’t need any comment from me as to the depravity of the images”.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client, who first appeared in private on 25 June last year, had cooperated fully with the police since the investigation began.
Sheriff Philip Mann called for a criminal justice social inquiry report prior to sentencing on 20 May, making clear to Hesketh that the “most likely outcome” would be a prison term.
“This is an extremely serious charge involving extremely serious criminal behaviour in relation to young children,” he said, “and I have to say a custodial sentence will be uppermost in my mind.”
