A north-east man has been warned he faces a prison sentence after being caught with thousands of indecent images of children.
Alan Wightman appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, where he admitted a pair of charges relating to child pornography.
The 41-year-old, of Eday Gardens in Aberdeen, was caught with 2,426 images on his computer, together with 944, totaling 42 hours and 48 minutes of sick footage.
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The court heard that police were met by Wightman’s stunned wife when they raided his home on December 15 last year.
Fiscal Alison Reid said: “The accused was later traced at work and he indicated that the offences were nothing to do with his wife.
“Several pieces of computer equipment were thereafter seized and examined and indecent images of children were found.”
Of the images, 164 were graded as being Category A, meaning they were the most extreme, 391 were Category B and 1,871 were Category C.
Of the 944 videos, 485 were Category A, 239 were Category B and 220 were Category C.
Wightman admitted “taking, or permitting to be taken, indecent photographs of children” between November 23, 2013, and December 15, 2017.
He also pled guilty to a second charge of possessing indecent photographs of children.
Sheriff William Summers deferred sentence until Thursday December 20 for the preparation of reports.
And he warned the accused that he faced the “significant prospect” of spending Christmas behind bars.
Sheriff Summers told him: “Given the gravity of these offences there is a significant prospect you will be subjected to a period of imprisonment when you come back to court.”
Defence agent, Stuart Murray, opted not to offer any mitigation until his client returns to the dock for sentencing.
